Counting What Counts

I'm writing for 31 days about Counting What Really Counts. I do hope you'll join me.

Day 1: Scroll Down
Day 2: What do you mean a walker?
Day 3: Count on God to bring wise counsel.
Day 4: Whether the weather is nice or not is not what counts. Really
Day 5: Sorting and Counting Loads of Laundry
Day 6: When counting takes effort. Lots of effort.
Day 7: Counting a sweet memory as a keeper!
Day 8: Counting victories rather than fears!
Day 9: Counting Princess Hats and Superhero Masks -- Not Mismatched Shoes!
Day 10: Counting on discipline to produce amazing young people!
Day 11: Counting Maroon Memories!
Day 12: Learning to NOT count expectations!
Day 13: Counting smiles not surgeries.
Day 14: Counting the Accomplishment -- Not the six hours at the DMV!
Day 15: Counting spoonfuls!
Day 16: Counting Mountains Moved!
Day 17: Counting two grandmothers with a thankful heart.
Day 18: Counting more than steps.
Day 19: Counting Emotions as Lessons Learned.
Day 20: Counting Star Wars References...
Day 21: Kindness definitely counts.
Day 22: Using Exclamation Points for What Really Counts!
Day 23: High five for counting!
Day 24: Counting Pots and Pans.
Day 25: Counting wins. Or not.
Day 26: Counting Pumpkins!
Day 27: Counting bottles, diapers and hugs.
Day 28: Counting Availability!
Day 29: Counting Memories and an S or two...
Day 30: Counting Tissues or Counting Cuddles!
Day 31: Counting Giggles, Bubbles and the Gift of Friendship!





February 9, 1999 --  "I'm here but Lord help me I'm wondering if I will be around much longer. These precious (and I would underline that word if I could) children of mine are making me crazy! Mason woke up screaming a little over an hour into their nap time. They should be getting 2 1/2 - 3 hour naps right now in order to be in their best form. Well, Mason woke Benjamin...Claire slept through it it all. I had to get the boys up and start feeding them lunch while the angel finished her nap. They played well briefly before Benjamin started crying and hasn't stopped. I came to get on the computer because I needed a break. He is in a frustrated mood and just wants to cry. (Of course it probably has everything to do with the tiny nap he took!) He's saying something but I can't understand it very well...I think it is "outside" which means he wants to stand on the couch and look outside but he needs to play and move around! I am really having a nervous breakdown here. You need to know that. Claire, meantime, is taking all my stationary apart on the floor, so I better go be Mommy again. Some days...."  

Today I am jumping off a cliff of sorts -- I have signed up to meet you here every day for the month of October -- a writing challenge by home blogger, Myquillyn Smith, the Nester. I am at once thrilled and terrified but here I am saying it, typing it and finding a way to make a link button. I think I'm committed! 

For 31 days, I'll be here Counting what Counts. Y'all know that counting my joys is what gets me through all the days, but this month I really want to delve into the power of looking at the things in our life that really matter.

My triplets were born in 1997 -- long before I knew blogging was a thing. I could have used the catharsis of writing a lengthy blog post from the bedsides of my babies in that Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I really really could have used that.

Perhaps though, I had something even better. I had a friend. I had a friend with a computer. And my friend and I discovered pre-blog-world that long emails were a wonderful way to sort through new motherhood.

A couple of years ago my sweet friend sent me printed copies of those emails. She wanted me to see how I walked through the early days of parenting triplets, and even learning about two of my trio having Cerebral Palsy. As Benjamin, Mason and Claire are racing full-steam toward high school graduation in a few months, it seems the perfect opportunity to look back at our starting place, to see where my worries were then and how significant or not those worries are today. In all honestly, I am assuming that some of my worries are inconsequential now while others may have become our reality. But regardless, my prayer is that we will come to the other side of this exercise and at least a couple of us will lay down some worries and learn to count the things that really matter.

Certainly it is wholly appropriate that today is World Cerebral Palsy Day -- today -- this very day that the challenge begins. And while I won't be only talking about Cerebral palsy during my 31 days of writing, it is certainly the jumping off spot for most of what makes me me, and my family my family. And perhaps it is even why you join me here.

And just so you'll get what I mean...that crazy, frenzied, contemplating running away mom at the beginning of this post sent another email to her friend a few hours later:

"Just thought you should know that the break was what they needed...they are playing much better now. I think sometimes they just need me to go away."

Ah, and gain a bit of perspective? Absolutely! Will you join me here this month and maybe we will all gain a bit of that??