I Had One Of Those Days...

Whicharefunto writeabout,

[forgiveme,my spacebarhas lostits ability to makespacesconsistently whenIhitit. I’ll use my left thumb, which is  really a hard thing to be half good at.]

It started last night, not in the way a mystery begins, but in the way a  snowball that is rolled down hill gathers momentum and more snow and gets bigger and bigger, except in mycasenothing got bigger,  so maybe only the momentum applies because today things kepthappeningand  on a day when I especially didn’t need themto.

So, it was last night, and I thought Angel  wouldsleep  through the night  again and I  was  sorely wrong. But, first o f all  Ididn’tfallasleep and lay awake for many hours,  becausesometimesthathappens andI’m  not sure why it  does. AndIthinkIdidn’tfallasleepuntilthree,andthenAngel woke up thenas I wasfalling asleep and I hadn’t made a bottle. My throat was still hurtingfromthe cold  I’d caught and  my face was burning  from the sun I’d  caught. So,I got the bottle and fed the baby. He drank two  ounces and refused  to  drink the restso we bothwent back to bed, then he woke up at six to finish histworemaining ounces whichI gave to him rather grudgingly. I should have got up then,but Ididn’tandslept untilseven,whichishalfanhourbeforethebuscomes to pick up Ulyses and Lizeth and I had to get them dressed and fed and down  thehill before it came. So, I did. Angel woke upafter that and Mom fed him for me, while I put laundry on, but he wouldn’tfeed because he seemed to be having stomach problems. Istood at the table considering suggesting Mom sit him up, incase there was a blow out,because we wouldn’t want it to go up his back. Just then, Emma(my tabby) scrambled into the roomand began puking on the tiles in half a dozen little puddles  of a nasty consistency and then ranout  againtowardthebathroomlike something was clinging to her tail. Icalled her and she came and I chucked her outside and told  her t hat s he wasgoingto stay out thereall summer. Mom and I sat on the couch and passed the baby back and forth,trying to get a burp out o f him,but instead,hepooped up  his back and I thought, I should have said. Mom said,”I canhold himfor five minutes while you get a bath ready.” She had to leave to drop Javie off at school. Calvin was at the computer, about to beginschool. Looking  at the cat  pukemademy stomachfeel notsostrong. Isaid, “Will you cleanthis up for a dollar?” “Uhh, no,” he said, and I was not in a position to offer more thanthat,soI steped over the puke and  made the bath. Igave  the bath and the baby was happy. Carrying him out into the hallway,  hepukedovermy arm and it splashed on the floor. And I laughed. I was  thinking,  When am  I going to get my nap? Iscooped thecat  puke up with a ragand realized that now I had to clean therag, but Mom said she gave me h er permission to throw it away.   I felt pretty grateful. I  moved the laundry along. I h ad to finish fourloads, because I won’t be at home tomorrow.

Itwasn’t a terrible list of things, just dynamics, that happened to make my life more interesting all on one day. Like, Mom wanting to move the rug out of the library andintothe boys’ room, so that I had to clear mine and the baby’s stuff  off of it. And the laundrypiling up from me completing loads and piling them on the  floor instead of folding them. And when I’d take a  nap and was almost asleep, the baby'dwakeup for his next  meal. Andso it went.

And when I went to take a shower after all the kids were inbed, I discovered the bottle of baby shampoo on the floor with a quarter of it oozing out to make a very sticky puddle. It always seems terribletome to scoop up soap with paper towels and throw  it away  like it’s dirty. But,I had to, of course. Then I gave the floor a good wipe all over, because it was pretty nasty and I wiped the sink and toilet, too. And then  Itook a shower.

 This day was…unusual and a tiny bit trying, in places. But it was good andmight  I say really lovely. It’snot stuffI’d  like to happenevery day, but when it does,I welcomeit for its tendency to make one better  at life  andmore grateful, too. I manage  to count up the good things and weigh them  against the extraandtroublesome things [there are many, many good things in my life] and I findmyself thinking God really is greatand I really am grateful. And there’salsothat felling of being useful and needed and that’s the feeling that keeps people alive.

So, yup, one of  those days. I had one.