I'm on Day Four of a writing challenge. And Day Four happened to fall on a big day in Mississippi State football history. So my blog-writing time was completely occupied with all manner of screaming, yelling, and jumping up and down while we watched our beloved Bulldogs beat Texas A&M. And there was the crocheting of a pumpkin -- because crocheting significantly lowers my blood pressure and that game...oh that game was definitely raising my blood pressure!
But here, this month, I am reaching back to emails I wrote to a dear dear friend when my triplets were very small. My precious friend was wise enough to save them, to compile them and to send them to me when she thought I would need them most. I am so grateful. And so this month, I am delving into some pretty serious soul-baring -- and some soul-baring that isn't too terribly serious at all -- to hopefully learn how to focus on the things that matter -- to count the things that really count. And as long as we are talking about counting what counts, I should probably warn you that I am posting these emails as is and apparently young mama me had a thing for the ellipsis (you know, the dot-dot-dot!)
January 28, 1999 -- "Well, that's it. We aren't leaving the building except for therapy ever ever again! We tried to go for a stroll today...it is all your fault talking about those Botanical gardens made me LONG to get outside. The weather man said "50 degrees" but I don't know what part of the city he was talking about cause it WASN'T here! We got to the park and got stuck in the mud....Chicago is very very soggy right now! Claire dropped her favorite dolly and it lost an eye (very sad) AND got muddy. My diaper bag got mud-covered and we were all freezing! The sidewalk had snow in my way so when I went into the street to go around we hit yet another mud puddle and I got soaked (well, my feet). It was not a picturesque moment, to say the VERY least! I mean it....we may not leave again voluntarily until June!
I paint a pretty picture of life in the city, don't I? We spent the winters pulling the kids around in their little wagon in the hallways of our building! The snow really was just almost my undoing with the triplet stroller -- or even the twin stroller!
But as I type, I am giggling at this whiny post because today, my friends, I live in the hot, arid, desert. And just this afternoon, I was whining about the fact that it is October and still 100plus degrees outside. I have a Norman Rockwell view of what this time of year should look like and we don't have it. I am -- dare I say -- even contemplating the fun of a little snow.
Perhaps, I was closer to counting what counts in an email I sent her earlier that month:
January 17, 1999 -- "To attempt to "brighten" this gloomy weather I put the kids int heir Aloha clothes that Miss Trish sent. I have been meaning to take pics in them but never seem to have time to dress and re-dress them! So we did today. They were hilarious! The boys love their Aloha shirts and shorts and thought they were pretty cute but I tell you that daughter of mine reached new levels of priss in her Moo Moo! I put a matching bow in her hair and told her to smile...she bent at the waist, put her hands on her knees and gave me this Marilyn Monroe smile! Honestly, I have NO idea where she got that!"
That email makes me smile. We had 22 inches of snow that weekend in Chicago. Dad was in southern California and the trio and I were stuck in the apartment trying to stay warm. I cranked the heat up to 80 degrees and dressed them in their Aloha clothes and we pretended we were on a beach somewhere.
Talk about making lemonade out of our lemons....
Because that it was really counts, right? Not whether life -- or the weather -- is perfect, but rather how we respond to the imperfection.
Let's spend more days wearing Aloha shirts in the snow! Who's with me?
0 comments:
Post a Comment