Through the years I've thanked Kevin for his incredible willingness to work his heart out for his family. I've tried hard (but probably missed the mark) to let our parents know how thankful I am for their support because God knows there's no way I could stay home and do the things I'm able to do without them. But I suppose now that all of the girls have moved away, I need to thank you. I'm sure you're working hard, what with all of those college and graduate school expenses. I hope you're teaching again or doing something you love. Maybe though you're just working where you can and you feel overworked, under appreciated and exhausted. You're paying the price, and I got the reward.
This morning as I sat at the dining room table paying bills I was surprised when the sleepiest sleepy head in our house walked in at 6:50am. She'd "forgotten" to do her homework last night. On her own she woke up early, got dressed and was ready to do her work. Thank you for allowing me be here, in no rush at all, watching her slowly develop a responsible spirit. As I finished my work and moved on to the regular morning chores, we worked through a couple of math problems, some which were deemed by my girl to be impossible. Thank you, for giving me the opportunity to again remind my sweet student of this article and to encourage her to keep working. Through time I pray she'll know that learning is the goal, not being correct every single time. After packing lunches, eating breakfast and dressing everyone for Arctic air we left the house just in the knick of time, with breakfast dishes still out...and maybe even the milk? And you know what? It didn't bother me one little bit. Thank you. It didn't bother me because I knew I could come right back and clean everything up. Emma has chorus two times a week at 8am, 20 minutes before Eleanor needs to be dropped off. On Tuesday, I got to listen to chorus--what a joy. And today, well that was just about the best 20 minutes ever. We parked the van, I put my seat back, enjoyed my coffee and listened to Eleanor read to Lucy. Thank you. After the big girls were at school and the house was picked up it was off to the grocery store. While this may not be my favorite thing I know every week when I pull into the lot at 9am on a weekday morning how very, very lucky I am not be fighting the weekend mad rush. Thank you. After Lu and I finished our shopping we made our way to the rec. center. Lucy played in the childcare area while I ran. Thank you. Even though it was 4o minutes away from Lucy I knew she was having fun and I sure needed the exercise. Afterwards we swam. I got to watch Lucy splash and run and laugh in the water, at 11 o'clock in the morning in the middle of January. Thank you. Once we got home we made peanut butter sandwiches and chocolate chip banana muffins. When I picked the girls up from school they each ate 2 of the muffins, and begged to have one more after dinner. Thank you, feeding my kids anything homemade gives me an odd happiness that must be linked to the caveman and his simplicity. After lunch and reading some books, Lucy took a great nap...she's sleeping well again after a very rough transition into her big girl bed. Thank you. I had the patience to deal with nearly two weeks of crummy sleep because I could go around in a haze, wearing whatever clean clothes I could find, not worrying about work deadlines or looking presentable, REALLY, thank you! Tonight we've conducted science experiments (they're still happening...right behind me), played with play dough, danced to Christmas music, prayed for a snow day, completed our homework, taken showers, eaten dinner, cried (Lucy conked Eleanor on the head with an ice pack, after poor Eleanor tripped), and in general (minus a couple of moments) enjoyed being together. Thank you. You see this day I just had, it was perfect. Not shiny tv perfect but real life this is exactly where I want to be give me a million more perfect. Who knows what tomorrow will bring; fighting kids, crackers ground into the rug, stomach flu, too much laundry, husband working (even on a Friday night). Maybe. But it will still be it's own kind of perfect because I'll be here with the people I care about most in the world. Thank you.
"Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."" Mother Teresa
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