Two days in one! Yesterday was so packed full that I just could not get to the keyboard to sum up my gratitudes from the day. It was a beautiful kind of busy; full of connecting with people, and for that I am so thankful. If you want to read previous days, or what this is about, go here.
1.
I’m thankful for friends. I’m so glad to live life in relationships with other women. Growing up we all want this right? Isn’t that so much of the angst of the school years? And even in adulthood and motherhood, we are continually looking for that kindred spirit, the one(s) who get us and love us no matter what we are going through, what we look like, what stupid thing we say, or how difficult our idiosyncrasies are. I count myself incredibly blessed for the friendships that I have.
2.
I’m thankful for dreams. God could have made us to have black screen in our mind’s eye all night when we sleep. But no. He lets us live different experiences, see new things, go to amazing places, maybe even fly in our dreams. Of course there are bad dreams, and sometimes I have those, but last night I had good ones and I do so love waking up in the morning after a night of interesting dreams.
3.
I’m thankful for simple traditions. I remember as a kid, so vividly, driving around with my parents, listening to Christmas music and looking at Christmas lights. It was nothing fancy. There was no magic Pinterest-inspired Polar Express goodie box for the car, no cup of hot chocolate, just a car and a Burl Ives or Bing Crosby Christmas cassette tape. It was MAGIC though. Tonight we ate dinner and I asked Kevin if he wanted to take the kids out for a drive to look at lights and we did. It was so easy but so fun. I turned on the Classic Christmas pandora station-packed full of Burl Ives and Bing Crosby, and we made the loop up to Leavenworth via Stines Hill and North Road, driving by downtown Leavenworth (always amazing this time of year) and circling back via East Leavenworth Road.
4.
I’m thankful for Unexpectedly Quick Reconciliation
Tonight at bedtime we had a bit of a blow-up with one of the boys. As a punishment (and as a means of letting the other two kids get to sleep without enduring the tirade) said boy had a sleeping bag laid out for him on the bathroom floor. As I went back to the bedroom to read a bedtime story to the other brother, other brother exclaimed “Oh! I love this book!”. I looked to see which one he had grabbed, and he picked one we hadn’t read for several months.
This book. Oh man. If you haven’t read it, you should. I cry almost every time I read it. I usually make it to the last couple of pages and then lose it, but tonight, I was done by the time the boy turned 2. I realized that my last baby is already out of the baby phase and is not in the beginning phase of the story anymore. Then I realized that one boy is almost to the part where the boy in the book turns 9 and then it hit me: Milo is 9 next year and that means we are HALFWAY DONE getting him to 18. That means we are halfway done having him live with us. I died a little inside and moved from gentle tears to full on crying. All three of them are just sprinting through their childhoods it seems!
Around that time the boy who had been banished to the bathroom meekly entered the room and I saw his crying face and he saw mine and all the previous rage was traded for a tearful reading of the second half of the book. Talk about a perspective shift.
Sometimes when this particular boy and I butt heads, we both get so stubborn and dig our heels in and usually no one wins. It was nothing short of a miracle that his heart softened from down the hall, and he chose to come back to the room, at which point he found me palpably nostalgic and tenderhearted and ready to make quick amends as I realized that this young man is such a gift. I guess you could say it was a coincidence that out of all the books we have; Berenstain bears, Curious George, Dr. Seuss, that this particular book was picked tonight. I don’t think it was a coincidence. I think God directed a boy’s eyes to a book that would shift the atmosphere of the entire family on this night.
5. I’m thankful for hot showers.
There’s something so wonderful at the end of the day about taking a hot shower. I wish every mom around the world could enjoy one, but I know the reality is that many women have to carry dirty water to their homes each day and a hot shower is something that dreams are made of. Such a simple thing we take for granted, but really such a luxury.
6.
I’m thankful for a girl with good fashion sense. Who doesn’t love some zebra print sunglasses?