It was one of "those" days.

I usually take a few minutes to blog before I go to bed.  But yesterday (Friday) was one of "those" days.  I had the whole day before us with quite the agenda.  It was a day of being home, checking off that to do list, enjoying my kids, eating something yummy, squeezing in a bit of crafting and then smiling with a big smile at the end of my day with a sense of accomplishment.  And then blogging about it. That was the plan.

But, sometimes plans don't happen as planned. Wrench after wrench screwed with my agenda. Our car broke down, which we weren't nearly as excited as our enthusiastic two year old.  My husband had to work overtime...again.  I forgot an ingredient we needed.  Our dishwasher decided to retire, filled with an (overly) full load of dirty dishes and a sink cascading with more dirties.  I forgot to dry the diapers. I had a two year old who opted not to nap (and was consequently crying off and on for the day) and I had a 3 month old who refused to be put down.  Usually it's delightful to have her so close to mama, but there are some chores that I have not successfully figured out to do while having another human strapped to me.  And of course the day was filled with those types of chores-mounds of dishes to hand wash, cleaning the chicken coop, turning the compost, cutting back flower beds for winter, carrying bins of maternity clothes to storage, filling the woodbox and gathering some kindling, sweeping/mopping and the like. And the chores that I could do with a baby I could not get ahead of.  I have no idea why.  Every room I left looked untouched, despite spending ample time striving for an improvement.  My grand meal plan ended up being oatmeal, a far cry from what I intended. I had a dull, aching headache that never really went away. You know exactly what I'm talking about.  "Those" days.

At the end of the day, when I was setting out to blog (but never got to), I did have a chance to upload my pictures.  I didn't look at them, but I uploaded them.  I had no idea what I snapped and I was sure that after a day like that, there wouldn't be a worthy one in the bunch.

Tonight I peek at the pictures I took.  And you know what?  I'm so glad I kept my camera handy.  There's snapshots of my day yesterday that made me smile.  How can that be?  I surely didn't smile at all yesterday.

But...in the crazy chaos otherwise known as our kitchen, a little helper was trying to help in all the wrong ways.  I cut a pumpkin in half and told him he could help me by taking out the pumpkin seeds. 
Boy, did he deliver.  Every last seed.
And I notice now that he was wearing a mama made hat.  How can I not smile about that?
And now that I think of it, I did stop to take a picture of this little sweet face looking up at me.
 And I do remember stopping long enough to look at those eyes a bit longer, long enough to snap another picture.
I was able to put our sweet girl down long enough to put my coat on.  I do remember this picture wasn't staged.  They were just interacting, talking, enjoying each other and the camera happened to be handy.  An added bonus they both seemed to roll their eyes at me at the same time.

And I remember chuckling a secret chuckle about how our oldest would much prefer to be helping me than doing anything else in the whole wide world.  I may have uttered to him yesterday, "Remember, if you listen, you can help mama with the laundry".  I now smile thinking about how ridiculous it is that a promise like works. How did I say that with a serious tone yesterday?
He filled much of this woodbox himself while I was on the phone.  "Help mama" he said.
 
At the end of the day, I remember I looked around our house, it seemed like the same colossal mess that I started with never was touched.  I happened to notice a sweet little dozer snuggled in close to me.  I must have smiled long enough to take another picture.
Looking back at that set of pictures, I cannot fathom how I never even thought yesterday was a 'terrible no good, very bad day'.  Certainly, my house was not ready for show.  Laundry may have been heaped.  Dishes not yet put away. The to-do list was still plenty long. There was no tasty treat for my husband to come home to.  All we ate was oatmeal for dinner.  But does all that really matter?

Absolutely not, it doesn't matter one bit.   I need to remind myself of this more often. I do not need to rush through the day frenzied.  Take a deep breath, Jackie. Realize all you have.  Enjoy them.  Slow down.  Make memories.  Live with what's not done.  Love them.

When all was said and done, at the end of the day, my little two year old looked up at me in a loving way and said..."Mmm, delicious!  Thank you oatmeal, sweet mama."  It's all a matter of perspective.

1 comment:

  1. This is precious. I have just found your blog, and loved what I saw so I just kept clicking on the recommended articles. I appreciate your honesty and humility in this post. I have 'those days' quite often, as I'm trying to do so much and get our house livable again, as well as taking care of a husband and twin 4 year old girls. I try so hard to enjoy things, but I'm the type of person that just gets overwhelmed by all the things I DIDN'T do, rather than celebrate the things I DID accomplish.

    You have blessed me with this post. Thank you.

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