Blessings: Snow Days (Day 2)
Yesterday, I started a series of blog posts centered around finding the blessings in my life and focusing on them rather than what I could be focusing on: my messy house, the kids who are arguing, my weight, the bills – you get the idea. Today is Day 2.
A Verse to Ponder: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34 (NIV)
This week, we’ve been “stuck” indoors due to really cold weather. There was minimal snow (we were hoping for 3-5 inches) and more sleet and ice. The temperatures for North Carolina have been crazy out of character, and school buses simply can’t run safely to get our kids to school.
Many of my friends on Facebook are frustrated by being “stuck” at home with their kids. I see parents lamenting that they are in such close proximity with one another (their kids) and wishing everyone would just go back to school. It’s strange to me — I’ve really never found myself thinking that I wished my kids would all go to school. A little quiet and peace so I could work? Maybe. But I actually love it when we’re all home together.
I am enjoying our snow days this week.
- Aaron was able to go with me to our ultrasound today to see Baby Diva without having to arrange for a substitute for his classes.
- My kids are bonding like crazy. Miss Sassy Pants and Flash are loving every second with one another (he even lets her pretend he’s a little baby wrapped in a blanket).
- The Animal is having a chance to let his illness run its course. He’s dealing with some ear infections and pink eye (again!), and being away from school is helping him get better, I hope.
- I’m accomplishing things around the house that wouldn’t have been completed on a “normal” day. Little projects here and there are finished up, and it feels wonderful.
- We’re slow to move around in the mornings and more relaxed in the evenings. Without a set schedule, we can just simply sit and watch the kids play while Aaron and I work on a crossword together.
- Aaron and I are actually catching up on some DVRd shows that we’ve put on the back burner. Knowing we don’t have to be up so early in the morning is, again, letting us slow down and just live.
As a child, I adored snow days. There was always some sort of magic to them. The anticipation of the snow and the question of whether or not we’d get “the call” was always something I looked forward to. Now that my kids are experiencing them, I get to see these days from another vantage point. And I love it.
I probably sound dumb for just now figuring this out, but I honestly mind snow days so much less when Ken is home too. Usually he has to work and I get stuck with all three by myself. They fight and whine and ask for things and I’m “on” all day. And then he comes home stressed out about his customers and the bad moods they were all in.
If he gets to stay home with us, I at least get a small break and he doesn’t have other people to put him in a bad mood.
I wish I could enjoy time off like that more, but it just doesn’t happen that way.