Today's thankful: The day off work

I had to take an impromptu day off work today because I am such a whiz at this mom thing. You would think that after 19.5 years of doing it, I would be better. Alas, 40 was probably too old to have a baby and my mind ain't what she used to be. It didn't occur to me that Youngest had the day off of school, so I didn't take vacation time to care for her. I didn't want to make Eldest care for the tiny person because she will be in charge all next week while I am in Cali. Middlest had band practice most of today in preparation for the trip. So my boss graciously let me have another day away from the office to tend to my offspring.

Today’s thankful: My children didn’t witness my bad behavior

I went to the grocery today before picking Youngest up from the bus. Thankfully, I left myself a lot of extra time. After choosing and placing $133 worth of food items on the conveyor, I realized that I had left my little wallet thingy in my band bag from the weekend. A heartbeat of panic was followed by the realization that I still had my checkbook. I continued with the checkout process and wrote the check. Then the clerk informed me that she had to actually see my driver’s license to finish the transaction. I told her I didn’t have it, and she told me she could hold my stuff and I could run home and get it. A quick look at the time told me I would have to hurry, but going back home for ID would work and still give me time to make the bus.

It was in this frame of mind that my bad behavior happened. I am not in any way trying to excuse what I did. It was inexcusable. There is a place in this particular strip center where three parking spaces are placed parallel to and in front of a few stores, end to end. The spaces are on the right as you head west, making them a legal spot for westbound travelers. As I approached the spots, I saw a car that was parked there headed east start to pull out. I stopped to avoid being hit. The driver stopped and motioned me forward. As I started to roll, he started to pull out again. I stopped again, only to be motioned forward by him. At this point, the old, illegally parked fart started clapping and making a face like, Yay! The stupid girl finally figured it out.” His jackassery pissed me off. I flipped him off as I rolled slowly past, making eye contact the whole time so he could be certain it was directed at him. I am not particularly proud of myself, but as I was relating the story to my grown nephew, he informed me that he would have parked in front of the guy’s car and gotten out to inform the guy what an ass he was. So I am a little thankful that I refrained from taking it that far. I am a lot thankful that none of my children witnessed my bad behavior.

Today’s thankful: Awesome editor, new friends, time to dream

I have a few thankfuls today, which in itself is cause for praise. First, when I awoke this morning at three-ish, it occurred to me that I had missed a newspaper deadline. I cannot put to print the thoughts that went through my head at that moment. See, I knew the deadline was approaching Thursday, as it does each week, but I got busy making strawberry jam and completely spaced it. My big thankful here is that my editor is wonderfully understanding and didn’t bust my balls for it.

Another thankful for today is Youngest and I were able to spend some quality time with some new friends who are on their way to becoming good friends. Too add more thankful on top of what was already a great day, it occurred to me that I currently don’t have any major life decisions looming. It is so nice to be unconflicted with time to dream.

Today's thankful: I took tiny person to the doctor

I was raised in a household where we rarely went to the doctor. Most of the time, my siblings and I were encouraged to fight off illness on our own. My parents are not Christian Scientists, but didn’t have a lot of money for unnecessary doctor visits. As a rule, if we were sick for longer than a week and didn’t show gradual improvement after the third day, we were taken to the doctor. As a consequence of my upbringing, I react in a similar fashion when my kids get sick. Today I violated my regular criteria and took tiny person to the doctor for what has been a six-day illness. She seemed to be getting better, but since her fever came back up over 100 after it had been less than that for a day, we sought medical intervention. She has strep. It was a very faint positive, so she almost got over it on her own, but the doc is treating it anyway. I am so thankful that I took tiny person to the doctor.

Apparently, untreated strep can complicate into rheumatic fever, kidney injury, or Toxic Shock Syndrome, to name a few. I never knew that, which is surprising, since I am not a rookie mom. Honestly, I thought rheumatic fever was a thing of the past and TSS only happened from not changing tampons often enough. Well, I’ll be. Just goes to show that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.

Forgiveness

Today’s thankful: I am thankful that I can forgive myself for not posting a thankful since the 9^th. That lapse puts me down five thankfuls. I have been struggling with myself as to whether or not I should make them up or let it go. I am opting for letting it go. After all, part of this thankful experiment is slowing down and taking time to enjoy the simple things. I don’t need the pressure of beating myself up for missing a few days.

On a related note, I have been a busy girl the past four days. I made a cake for a baby shower for my nephew’s wife. The cake was going to be spectacular, a three-ring circus with cookie animals perched on upside down cupcakes on top of three round cakes. The cookies were too heavy for the cake to support them. Basic disaster with a drop back and punt effort. Wound up with three round, rather boring cakes. At least they tasted good. Tiny person said to me, “guess the bear ate you that time.” Indeed. Some days you eat the bear; some days the bear eats you.