When Now is Pretty Good

Sunday was a funny day. I got up early and went to church (more on that later) where I chatted with a man who is about to celebrate his 66th wedding anniversary. It was conversation that had me rethinking all sorts of things on my next car ride. (More on that later too.) Then I went to the grocery store and the cashier asked if I had kids. When I answered, “yes, three” his immediate response was, “wow you look so rested.” Later in the day, we had barely sunk our toes in the sand when a thunderstorm rolled in and rather than go home, we packed everyone under cover and waited it out in the cold rain. Everyone rolled with it-The Baby included. It was kinda insane.

Then, the kicker came last night at dinner . The Baby was the first finished. He didn’t eat the turkey burger but he ate all his asparagus and every last bite of salad without me really even noticing. As the turkey burger was the least healthy thing on his plate, I called this a win. Three years I’ve spent training these kids at family dinner and this might be our first one that actually worked for everyone.

After dinner, when The Husband and The Baby were getting ready for bed, I had a moment of pure laughter with The Middle One and The Girl. She said something and he misheard her which prompted a silly dance from him and gales of laughter from both she and I. When your on kid can make you laugh, and I don’t mean just a, “aw isn’t he cute” laugh, I mean an honest to God belly laugh, that’s pretty darn cool.

Doing the dishes and reflecting on all of the day’s escapades, I realized what a sweet spot we’re in right now. I’ve spent the last few weeks as a ball of anxiety trying to figure out how I’m going to deal with the change of seasons with kids and work etc. But what I really should be doing is soaking in all that’s going on right now. These kids and their personalities, at this particular time, are mostly a joy to be around. Sure, they can each be trying as exhibited in my recent post, but for the most part they’re easy and even downright fun to be around.

It wasn’t always this way. I used to be anything but rested. I used to have to chase someone all over the beach at any given time and if a storm had rolled in I would have had three whining, complaining or downright scared instead of easily waiting it out with me. It used to be hard, every minute of every day. Now, I have my moments and my days but mostly, we all get along pretty well.

This won’t go on forever. This magical time where we all enjoy eachother’s company so much, where I respect them and they listen to me when I ask. Soon, there will be a day  where they’ll hate me or maybe tolerate me and I sure won’t want to spend too much time around they’re surly selves. But today, they’re nearly perfect and instead of worrying what’s next, I should just enjoy what’s now.