It Was One Of Those Days

I’ve been facing a bit of the doldrums the last couple days. I don’t know if it’s this rainy weather or the fact that I’ve been alone with the boys so much lately. Maybe it’s because I’ve been so tired or because I stopped running because of knee pain….or maybe it’s just for no reason. But no matter what the cause…I’ve been a bit down.

Every time I start to feel down, though, I try to think of this post from simplemom.net which gives me comfort. Here’s an excerpt of the most important part:

And when things are hard this week—and there will be hard times this week—may you remember the good parts of your day, too, so that you resist labeling the whole day “horrible.” And if your day truly is a train wreck, may you find solid sleep, so that you can wake up again, ready to roll up your sleeves and start over.

Every new day is a gift. Remember that this week.

When I think about it like that, my days aren’t anywhere near horrible. Here’s my take on the last couple days:

– It was one of those days when my eyes sparkled with tears as my husband kissed me goodbye on his way to work. I was not looking forward to more than 12 hours without him. But then I looked down at my son nursing, and the other on the couch next to me and I was so thankful that these long days are the exception, not the rule, and that my husband gets the chance to pursue a subject of interest to him through a class in the evenings.

– It was one of those days when I just needed some diet coke and chocolate, and I really questioned if I wanted to stick with Weight Watchers and lose the baby weight. (Confession: I ate a couple M&M’s and didn’t count them on my points tracker) But then my son broke me out of my inner dialogue by saying, “I’m thinking about the government” out of the blue in the middle of an art project, and I was immediately thankful that my husband taught him that Bob Dylan lyric a few days ago.

– It was one of those days when the rain kept us inside. When it’s too cold to open the windows…and we may have even needed a bit of heat…but it’s too suffocating to stay inside the whole day. So we threw open the windows and listened to the pitter patter of the rain and breathed in the fresh air and smiled at the glistening drops of water on leaves outside our window.

– It was one those days when I said a little prayer that my two year old would just take a nap for goodness sakes so I could have a few minutes to take a breather. It was one of those days when he didn’t nap (I think he may never nap again) and I closed him in his room for quiet time so I could have a few minutes of space. But when I went to get him out of quiet time he was playing with Woody and Chewbaca behind the rocking chair, and his pretend dialogue was so cute my tensions of the day melted away instantly.

– It was one of those days when my patience wore thin because he wouldn’t stop climbing on me when I was trying to use a screw driver to connect two pieces of a globe toy. But then once it was assembled, he took it immediately to show his baby brother, and they looked at it together.

– It was one of those days when I cried in the card aisle at Target as I read some of the Father’s Day cards. And then an old lady said to me in the check out line, “I remember those days like they were yesterday.” (referring to my two young boys…one sleeping in the cart, and the other trying to convince me to buy him M&M’s.) She had glistening eyes and a wistful smile. And I realized that my boys are growing up right now, and someday I’ll wish I had more than 12 long hours with them to myself.

– And then I ran out of things to feel sorry for myself about. But the good just kept coming. My sister-in-law came over just before bedtime to help me bathe and put the boys to bed. She came out on this stormy evening just to help me out, and so that Elias didn’t have to be by himself when I put Simon to bed.

And when the boys were in bed I turned on some good tunes, and felt like falling asleep on the couch, but decided to work on an art project of my own. I felt my muscles relax at the end of a long day as my hands weaved the threads, and as I thought about it, I realized that today was a good day.