Saturday, May 11, 2013

Not Quite What you Thought, but Still Good.

My husband had some good plans for me today.
He was going to take us all to one of my favorite places (Ashland, OR)
Then he had an awful fever-filled sleepless night.
We woke up and he went back to bed.
Sick day.
Me in p.j's until noon, when he woke up again & I grabbed a shower.
Not quite what we had imagined.

Instead, gifts from the kids; rocks & flower jars.

Gillian weaves me a daffodil hair wreath.
The 4 children explore the hillside at our sometimes place of residence in Butte Valley.
I sit on the deck in the shade with a cup of tea,
reading the beautiful "Bread & Wine: a love letter to life around the table".
Through the screen door I listen to The Bells of Santa Ynez
playing on a massive record player.
A big, black beetle repeatedly dives at my head,
which is dressed in the a fore mentioned daffodil.
Ants an inch long, thick and juicy looking crawl across the deck boards.
I give the exploring children a serious scolding for some bad choices.
I get kinda mad.
They all have to stay near by now and stay on the lawn.
They chase fence lizards.
I go back to reading.
It's getting hot.  The Daddy wakes up, we move the party indoors.

Now I have my baby, who is not quite a baby anymore, napping on my lap;
totally.passed.out. & peaceful.

Until then she woke up, sweaty and mad.
Water is nice for her, until she decides to slip some of it on me, and some slips on her, too.
Mad again.
Chocolate cookie is nice for her, until she finishes it and has melted chocolate on her hand.
Mad again.
She comes back to my lap and see this photo of her & smiles.
Peace again.

My sick husband is back in bed sleeping.
The kids smile over cereal for dinner and I sit down with leftovers and a beer.

Ins't this just like mothering, (and really like life in general)?
Things don't go the way we expected.  Then we can look and see the good that is there.
We can be grateful for, enjoy it in the right then.
The good we just saw may pass or change, and then we can look for more good,
and grab on and be grateful again.
Around and around it goes.  Moments.  Opportunities.  Changes.
The good and the bad all mushed up together in this life.
I do love it.
Happy Mother's Day!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have not been to Ashland in 15 years, but I remember how pretty is was and walking through this beautiful park. Sounds like you ended up having a great day!

Nicola said...

Erin, I love this post! It sounded a lot like my mother's day (which was Lucas' birthday this year). So I made our special lunch and Lucas got the shakes and a fever in the late afternoon and has been sick ever since! But I was still surrounded by my loving husband and children (even when they're at each others throats). Happy belated Mother's Day. Love you.

Stephanie said...

Thanks for the "sneak peek" into your day.

I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying "Bread & Wine." I wonder if my local library has a copy...

stephanie@stephaniesheaffer.com