The Little Things that Keep Me Sane

I think it’s probably safe to say that I’m not coping well lately. To my family and friends, SORRY, I know I’ve been a terror as of late. I’m hoping that surviving this next week and looking forward from there will help us all regain our focus.

But this weekend brought me several moments that had me step aside from my stresses and truly cherish the life I’m lucky to lead.

My sweet husband…He could see (and hear and feel and probably wanted to run away from me) that I was not handling myself very well so he picked up the phone and scheduled me a massage for Sunday (and made sure I got to yoga Sunday morning as well). Well when I got out of my massage Sunday afternoon, I checked my e-mail and there was an Evite from “ME” to Margaritas and a Movie…I responded yes and really crossed my fingers that I hadn’t just agreed to a date with some creepy stalker. He had already set up the babysitter, we all had an early family dinner together (second day in a row!), and we had a nice night out…a little time to discuss what’s on our minds plus a little mindless time at the movie…just right.

My hilarious Larkin…She’s been on a roll lately with her little attitude, but that girl can make me laugh when I need it most. She was running circles around the first floor before dinner both days this weekend because “she needed to exercise”. Then when we were trying to explain to her that there were limes growing in the backyard and that her daddy would take her back there to see them the next day, her response was “OH MY GOODNESS!!! LIONS???” I literally fell on the floor in the kitchen crying laughing. She was not the least bit concerned about lions living in our backyard, rather she seemed really excited to meet them. We also made cupcakes and did our toes together, and I always enjoy doing girly stuff with her (because she loves it so much)!

My adoring Kellen…We have a lot of frustrations right now, but there was one moment in particular this weekend that melted my heart. I had gone in our bedroom to put myself together after my massage because we were headed to the grocery store. Patrick and the kids were sitting in the middle of the gameroom floor around a big bowl of popcorn having snacktime. When I emerged from our bedroom, Kellen immediately ran over to me and grabbed my hand. I assumed he was going to pull me to the top of the stairs because he wanted to go down to get juice or something….or that he was going to pull me to his room to open his door…or maybe to a toy he needed help getting…but it was none of those things. He took me by the hand, looked up at my face, and very slowly and gently walked me over to the bowl of popcorn and pulled me to sit down. He sat across from me, looked me dead in the eyes again and smiled. I handed him a piece of popcorn from the bowl, which he took and then did his little happy dance (he does a little side-to-side dance when he’s happy, or when something tastes good, etc.)…he did his happy dance because he’d brought me over to sit with all the people he loved and share some popcorn…not because he needed anything, but because he wanted me there with them.

And in that moment…I knew that whatever this week brings, we will be okay. In that moment, I knew I’d be doing my happy dance again soon.