I *think* so

My daughter bit her tongue over the weekend, and we spent some time in the emergency room.

She's fine, she didn't need stitches. She's back to eating most of the same food she did before.

But what gave me pause, looking back on this incident, was when the doctor asked me if she had all her shots.

I replied "I think so, I think she has".

My husband confirmed, "She's had all her shots."

It's true, I was there when she had all her shots. I know vaccinations can be controversial, but we have been a traditional family (in that sense). We even get the flu shot. I don't carry the list around with me, but I'm pretty sure she's had all the shots she needs (we've gone over it with pre-school and everything).

I find it interesting that I am so non-committal in nature. Most of the time, when asked a direct question, this is how I will respond. Even when I know the answer to the best of my ability.

It comes from making lots of commitments without knowing what I was getting into, specifically religious commitments. Or that growing up, things were fluid - making a commitment would have real consequences (when I couldn't follow through with that commitment for whatever reason).

I try to be open to other points of view and new information , sometimes to a fault.

For example, I was asked to be a reference for a friend who was thinking of foster parenting/adoption. When asked (on the form) what kind of parent I thought they would be, I said "I think they will be a good parent". Because I don't/didn't really know what kind of parent they will be and it's hard for me to commit to such a serious statement. This was another time that my husband observed - you might want to say you know they will be good parents. Saying "think" might give the wrong impression. (He had/has a point). Despite the fact that from my view, they've always been good parents.

My husband is much better able to make definitive statements about things. It's just his personality.

I'm not sure what it is about me or my personality that makes it difficult to make definitive statements.

But it's something I will try to be more aware of, and to work on.