Day 27-Forced Rest

Today I had to force myself to rest.  And by rest, I mean…I sewed most of the day.

peace in our hearts

No book reports to supervise.

No to-dos.  Well, there were to-dos, I just ignored them.  Except for a couple of loads of laundry that I managed to put away.

I thought about going on my long run today.  We took the girls on a 3 mile family run, and I thought I was going to fall over with exhaustion when we were done.  I took that as a sign to put the long run on hold for today.  Maybe tomorrow.

I drank a lot of hot tea and EmergenC.

I wore my grandpa sweater.  Right now, I’m also wearing the scarf that I made but I’m too tired to look for the camera to get a picture of it.  Also, who wants to see my sick face?

Elwood Wilson is quietly snoring beside me.  The dog is at my feet.

I think it is time to call it a day.

This post is part of the 31 Day series-Mindful Moments.

Day 26-A Fall Afternoon

I think I need to admit that I have a cold.  For the past couple of days, I have been hopeful that maybe I could fight this off. 

My body is saying otherwise.

After picking up the girls from school yesterday, my body was tired.

It was a beautiful fall day.  Warm and sunny.  Lots of crunchy leaves to play in.

I was doing a few chores around the house while watching the girls.  There were still more to-dos left.

eve of the day

I needed to rest.

So I made some hot tea and sat on the front steps and watched the girls.

There was no other place that I wanted to be.

This post is part of the 31 Day series-Mindful Moments.

 



Day 25-Let It Go

 

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before, but school wears out my kids.  Thursday nights I can often see the wear on their faces.  Katy is putting herself to bed as I type this because she can’t make it to her 8:30 bedtime.  Hey, who am I to judge?

We came home today and I was doing some dinner prep while the girls settled down to their homework.  Lucy was completely distracted.  And not her in her normal procrastination or I’m super tired and emotional way.

I asked her what was going on.

She said that her heart felt empty.

Holy moly, this kid…her insights constantly surprise me.

Some kid at school had said that he hated her.  You know how kids are.  That’s a go-to insult for kids for those moments when they don’t know how to really express their frustrations.

It still stabs you in the heart though.

And leaves it empty.

I comforted Lucy the best I know how to.  Lots of hugs, lots of reminders about who she is and some discussion about the words that kids use.

arms to embrace

And almost as soon as she started melting down, she perked up.  She said that she was able to let go of it and felt better.  She cheerfully started working on her math homework.

Wow.  I wish that I had that ability.  To let something go like that. 

Sometimes venting only leads to more venting.  And more negativity.  And more hurt feelings.

This little lady just lets it go.

She is so amazing.

This post is part of the 31 Day series-Mindful Moments.

Day 24-Pajamas

Today was a long day.  And for no particular reason other than it is Wednesday.

After dinner, I put on my pajamas and sat on the couch.  In my quiet living room.

Be there at our homing

I was so grateful to be home.

I was grateful for the rest.

I was grateful for the coffee pajama pants that my mom got for me.  Is it weird that they have caffeine junkie written on them?  Does she think I have a problem?

I was grateful for this time to space out and let my mind reset.

Sometimes when my week feels full (for whatever reasons), my brain needs to slow down. 

I spent a fair amount of time tonight looking for a tutorial for café curtains on the internet.  Why was it so hard to find one?  I decided that I am going to hide the insides of that beat up cabinet with a curtain.  Or at least, that is what is going to happen in my mind.  I’m sure the actual sewing will involve some sort of adventure.

There have been times when I would have felt guilty about how I spent my night.  But not tonight.

Sometimes we need to be without an agenda.  Without a to-do list.

And in our coffee junkie pajamas.

This post is part of the 31 Day series-Mindful Moments.

Day 23-Morning Validation

A couple of my coworkers and I have been doing a morning validation with each other this week.

It’s a silly way to start the day off with something positive.  Who can have a bad day when someone wishes you a morning of unicorns? 

This is also a reminder of who we are.  We are good people who are good at what we do.

Don’t we all need that?  To be reminded of our truths?  And especially first thing in the morning, before those doubts start to creep in and paralyze us with fear.

hopefulness

I need constant reminders of my truths. 

I get stuck in self-doubt.

I let fear cloud my judgment.

For those moments in the morning, there is hopefulness of the day ahead.  There is hopefulness about the person that we will be today. 

There is also a reminder of the person that we already are. 

We are already enough.

This post is part of the 31 Day series-Mindful Moments.