An Ordinary Day

Today wasn't awful, nor was it good. It just was.

Every now and then I need a really bad day. It gives me the opportunity to rise to the occasion, laugh at myself, and realize that the small things really don't matter so much. Every great once in a while I need to wake up late, forget to iron my clothes, get stuck in traffic, not have enough copies for my first class, crash my computer irreparably, forget my lunch money, lose my keys several times, have the wrong copies for my last class, forget a meeting. I guess you get the picture.

On days like that I just have to laugh at myself. It doesn't take long for every little thing going wrong to become ridiculous and just plain funny. A good ol' bad day every once in a while is a little refreshing.

But today was just a day - gray, middle of the road, average. A day where some things went wrong. Some things got done. Some things had to be put off until tomorrow. Just a day. And it was painful.

So I came home grouchy, changed my clothes, and met the boys in the driveway. Our carpets were cleaned today, and we decided to keep the boys out of the house a little while longer by going out to dinner. (It had nothing to do with the fact that I never cook anything.)

We had a great time at Mr. G's Pizzeria. The boys were very well behaved, the pizza was delicious, and, of course, there was Mr. G stopping by our table to pat the boys on the head and tell Keaton to sit down. Trey turned to me at some point and said, "We should come here more often, this place is so nice."

On the way out, Tucker looked up at the sign and read (yes! he read this all by himself!) "Mr. G's World's Best Pizza." I was so proud! We made a stop at Home Depot, and as we drove down the highway we passed one of Tucker's favorite places - Grand Station Entertainment. He asked, "What does entertainment mean?" So we talked about the word and what could be classified as entertainment.

Our last stop was Maggie Moos for ice cream. There, Tucker read the security sign, "Protected (I had to help with that word) by On Alert." Then he said, "What does alert mean?" And we talked about the meaning of the word.

Each time Tucker read some word or phrase that I had no idea he could decipher, I was not only impressed, but inspired! Reading has opened up his world to new words and meanings. I was reminded that this is what I get to do every day - help kids find new expression through language and reading.

Then we got home and the boys discovered the living room empty of furniture. It was like a theme park! They danced, jumped, flipped, played tag - it was quite a fight to get them to get in the bath. After they slowed down a little Tucker looked around and said, "I don't think we should eat or drink in the living room anymore so that this carpet can stay clean like this." (That's my twenty year old in a five year old's body. Tomorrow is Meet the Teacher for kindergarten. I can only hope his teachers know what they've gotten themselves into.)

What's the point of this scattered, somewhat disorganized diatribe? When I left school today I was just foul. No real reason - I was frustrated and out of patience. Then I came home to be reminded of not only what's really good in life - my family, but also why I love going to work every day.

I think all the time about what I need to do for my kids - make lunches, give baths, and on and on. Today I was reminded of all they do for me.