Giving Thanks

Life is hard.  Its okay to admit that.  Its even okay to wallow in it for a moment or two.  Sometimes I wonder who the practical joker was that designed the five day work week and only two day weekend.  Sometimes my house is a tragic mess and the dishes are piled, there are toys strewn from room to room and the laundry pile is starting to look like that heap in Fraggle Rock.  There are definitely moments where one of my children has driven me absolutely nutty and if they say "Mom" like that one more time.... 

 

And then there are times where you get to sit in a recliner with your two boys on your lap and read story after story together.  Moments when your son says "Mommy, you're my best girl." Or you get to sew buttons that your daughter made in pottery class onto a pair of leg warmers that she actually wanted you to knit for her.  And then there are private and meaningful conversations with a fourteen year old who has a heart the size of Alaska and the guts to wear it on her sleeve.  Who stood up for a friend at school in all the ways you wish you did when you were her age. 

 

There are moments like yesterday.  The typical rush and hurry of post-work and post-daycare pickup had me in high gear.  I was listing the phone calls I had to make, wondering what was in the cupboards for dinner and Who the Heck is Screaming Now?!  I pulled up to my mailbox and there was package inside.  I haven't started Christmas shopping yet, so it wasn't something I bought and Aaron never shops.  It was in fact addressed to me. 

 

I got everyone and everything inside the house and reassured Clara and Clancy that I was in fact as awesome as the second coming of Christ they assumed I was.  The cats were circling and Josh was making a sound that was awfully close to "Feed me now woman!" and the kids were running and screeching and I ripped open the package to find something that was six kinds of awesome. 

 

 A gift. 

 

Even better: a gift of yarn!

 

Three Irish Girls yarn!!

 

Two! Two skeins of 3IG sock yarn!!!

 

"Make something beautiful with your memories.  Love, Kelly T & Family." 

 

It was for Patrick's second anniversary and it meant so much to me I've not been able to come up with a proper way to say thank you. 

 

I'll be thinking of all these little things tomorrow that add up to something much bigger than I could have hoped for.  All of these little moments sprinkled throughout the chaos and the crazy make for a wild ride, yes, buts its my life.  And mostly, its a damn good one that has an awful lot of pretty terrific people in it.