So, it's Thanksgiving week and I'm so grateful that the 3-4 weeks of blah that usually follow Halloween have been busy enough and relatively painless. Yes, we've had cold weather, lots of rain, and even some snow. Yes, work has been hectic as usual and the kids are making us crazy. But aside from a couple weekends where we didn't have many plans and the kids got a little rowdy, all is well. I guess I can't complain about that.
Lately I've been trying to be grateful for the little things. I guess watching wildfires ravage California (on the heels of hurricanes hitting down south) and seeing from afar so many lives touched by gun violence this fall, you realize just how much worse things could be. My mom had shoulder surgery on Tuesday, and while everything was expected to be fine, there's always that twinge of "what if". Fortunately, everything was fine (though a long road ahead!), but I'm thankful my biggest problem is worrying about what could go wrong...and usually doesn't!
I've tried to find the silver lining more often lately. I have done it in the past, too, like when our Jacob problems seemed insurmountable and then I thought about what parents with true special needs kids go through. Or when he got his Celiac diagnosis and life seemed unfair, until I realized that this isn't life-threatening on a daily basis like a nut allergy would be. But lately I've made an effort to be grateful through things like dishwashing because I have a family to cook for and a kitchen to cook in, or thankful while I vacuum because I have a house that needs cleaning (and a truly wonderful vacuum with which to do it now!). I'm grateful through kid dramas because I have kids at all. I'm grateful for my husband, kids, home, job, and extended family, and know that at any moment something could be taken away, so I shouldn't take for granted the relative normalcy we enjoy every day--even if the moments that make it up can be challenging at times.
I try to be grateful and content, and teach my kids to do the same, but I admit that I'm not always great at it. I get a little mad at myself when I add yet another article of clothing to my large wardrobe built almost entirely through amazing sale or clearance purchases because I should be grateful for what I have. But then I find some part of my wardrobe that stresses me out--I'd like fashionable boots that work in the snow, or colored skinny jeans so I have more than just gray pants to wear with black tops. Then I feel compelled to get something to fix that issue, and I'm not sure if it's an ungrateful compulsion or if it's a legit stressor that's good to take care of. So, while that's something I struggle with, I try to be mindful of remaining thankful.
I guess this week was good timing for all of this to be on my mind. Thanksgiving offered up some good times to be reminded of how much I have to be thankful for. I was off on Wednesday with the kids, and then all of us went to Buffalo later in the afternoon. Earlier in the day, it looked like this:
It would have been perfect to decorate for Christmas, but alas, it's against my rules to do it before Thanksgiving. I had plenty of packing to do, anyway.
Once we got into town, we grabbed dinner for the kids and left them with Craig's mom and a couple of their cousins so we could spend some time at a downtown bar on our annual Thanksgiving Eve outing to remember Craig's Uncle Mike, who passed away four years ago. We had a great time with his aunts, uncles, and cousins before we had to retrieve the kids and head to my parents' house to sleep over. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great night of sleep for most of us. My mom was on the La-Z-Boy because of her shoulder, and she had a machine running to keep cold water flowing over the shoulder. I slept on the couch (since we only have two twin beds and a crib mattress there), and after eating fried food at the bar that didn't settle entirely well, I woke up at 2:30 and never really went back to sleep. While that machine should have been white noise, it didn't help matters, and I guess it was the perfect storm to stay awake. I was oddly comfortable, and even though my stomach was off, it wasn't painful, and yet I couldn't seem to fall asleep. Craig had a headache overnight, so in the morning when I decided to get up and go to church, he stayed in bed. I got the kids ready and we went to church with my dad. It was my friend Heather's birthday and I wanted to see her there, and clearly there's no better place to be on Thanksgiving.
I had offered to cook Thanksgiving for my parents, but my mom wasn't sure how she'd be feeling by that point so they passed. They did have a turkey dinner recently and saved some leftovers to have their own little meal, though. It was nice to spend a little time with them, but soon after we took off for Craig's family's meal. We had a really great time with them--so much amazing food and lots of laughter. We spent a few hours in a food coma, and eventually made our way back to my parents' house for another night. This time I slept in a twin bed with Jacob, and it went a bit better even though Carter's snoring is really bad right now. We still managed pretty well, and by 10:30, we were off on our big adventure for the weekend: Toronto!
No comments:
Post a Comment