Busy Times

These past few weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster, let me tell you.  Waking up to a local bar shooting, one that I visited often as a teen/ early twenties, was surreal.  It was not only heartbreaking but also unbelievable. All the normal questions came to mind: why, who would do this, are we safe, should I take my kids to school today? Well, I did take the kids to school, but I was uneasy most of the day.  Good thing my kids had one of those running fundraisers at school, so I was there most of the morning anyway. But then the second part of the day hit us with another hard blow.

As I was dropping off one of my friend’s kids, I looked up and noticed smoke coming from the mountain that we frequently hike.  At first, I thought it’s not that big of a deal, the firefighters will put it out quick, but then the wind just got stronger and stronger.  All the sudden we were all on fire watch and we were getting beaten down by wind.  Wind never helps during a fire, but this wind was not stopping and went on for a few days.  I don’t know what it is about the wind but for some reason my kids get crazier than normal. It’s like something goes off in their heads saying ‘ok its time to get into everything and test how far we can push mom before she breaks’. It didn’t help that we were indoors because of the smoke from the fires, but they were bouncing off the walls and I was going a bit crazy myself.  Thanks to my friends and some wine, we were able to survive the rambunctious children.

As soon as everything settled down and we were able to get back to our routine, it was time for the holidays to begin!! Which is always a rollercoaster of emotions! It was like we were at Six Flags going from one scary, heart pounding ride to another. It always starts off happy to see everyone, which then quickly turns into stressed out at all the work that needs to get done, but then your sad when it’s over, and mad that your kids hurt your decorations, and the list goes on and on.  But this season already started off with so many horrible things; shooting, wind, and fire, that even though I am already emotionally drained, I am also grateful for everything in my life.  It is so easy to get caught up in all the big bad thing that happen in this world, but what really matter is all the little, just as important, good things that are easily overlooked.  It is something I need to remind myself every morning, and the days that I do remind myself, I find that my day is a whole lot better. So, let’s cheers today to all the little things, like the kids making their beds or having no laundry to do, or the random hugs we get.  Today, lets cheers to all the good small things that happened in our day and be grateful for all that we have.  Cheers