valley girl

Sweets for your sweet...

Oh chocolate...

more ideas of things that go great with chocolate...

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Today....

Today I will take my girls to their perspective schools sweaty, unshowered, with an "oh dear me, what is that" mop of hair on my head.

I will come home and clean the house because sweeping the floor somehow helps to sweep cobwebs from my brain too.

I will make a pot of healthy, hearty, soup. It will feed my soul and my belly...equally.

I will NOT do laundry...I just bought the girls more undies last night instead (brilliant...I know).

How about it..how is your today going to be?

So much of our day it seems is not our choosing, or so it feels.

It is full of "if I don't do it then who will" kind of stuff.

Work to pay the bills.

Cook to feed the hungry mouths.

Clean to avoid a scary reality show about how you lost your youngest child in a pile of dirty socks.

Run around all day...and yet not know exactly what it is you did all day or what you accomplished.

Small victories people.

That is what we are looking for.

A hot shower. Victory

A homemade, healthy supper. Victory.

Paid the water bill. Victory

At bed time, all children accounted for. Victory.

So let's get to it shall we....

and remember...

small victories.

Yesterday I had a conversation with a delightful woman that has a daughter in the classroom just down the hall from my daughter at school. I see her most mornings as we both rush in...our mini adults in tow, hanging on for dear life as we rush to beat the tardy bell.

We exchange smiles and airy, rushed "hellos."

A week or so ago I found out some of the struggles her family has experienced this past year. Big ones, we're not talking hang nails here people...the death of her mother, work issues for her husband and much more.

All that time I was just flying by with a superficial smile and hello. I felt awful. Sick.

Not that I expect everyone to bring me all their problems. Please don't.

I can't figure out my own issues over here.

But it made me think long and hard about meaningful contact with people.

In what way could I have been more than just another empty hello to her?

I know that EVERYONE has a struggle on their mind and in their heart.

A hurt. A burden they are carrying.

EVERYONE.

So why would we not assume that the person sitting next to us is struggling too.

What would we want from others around us?

What would help ease our own burdens?

Maybe if I had really looked in her eyes when I said those habitual "hello" in the hallway.

It's not that I need to be this woman's BFF, she has a very full life.

But she does need to know that I SAW her, that I meant the smile on my face. That I noticed she pulled herself out of bed, that she had decided to participate in life that day.

I don't know. I just know that I could do better.

I have been gently reminded that we are here to help each other, to love one another.

I hope your day is well, that you feel loved today.

Noticed.

Cared about.

Smiles to you friends.