Grateful

I am grateful for the warmer weather this week.  The buds are pregnant with bloom and one day we'll awaken to find our corner of the world awash with color.

I am grateful for my 4 year old Rella who, after throwing up all over herself at 11 :00 last night, still retains her humor.  That as I tuck her in following a midnight bath, wardrobe change and make-shift bed on the floor, she laughs when I playfully tell her "No trying to sneak into bed with Mommy and Daddy tonight, Throw-Up Girl." She did try though.  All night long.  Yet, I am grateful that she comes to us for comfort and love, even if it is every hour on the hour all night long, and that we can make everything all better.

I am grateful for Dr. Fabulous and his warm feet as I curled up around him after returning to bed again and again in between tending to a sick girl.  Grateful to hear the rhythm of his breath guiding me back into short but sweet bouts of sleep; to know I'm not doing this alone.

I am grateful for my 6 year old Tink, who joined the party by waking up vomiting.  She won't let blowing chunks damper her sunny spirit, even when I  have to leave her alone in front of a toilet in order to get CB ready for school because I haven't managed to clone myself and be 2 places at once.

I am grateful my girls understand what it means to be part of a big family, and that CB needs a lot of my attention.

I am grateful for carpet cleaner and fully caffeinated Chai Latte K-cups.

I am grateful for my 7 year old Pink, who is home a second day from school with fever, as she ran right over to help me clean up half a box of Kix that slipped from my hands, spilling an acre of little cereal balls all over the floor, even though she felt like crap.

Grateful that upon taking her to the pediatrician this afternoon that her diagnosis was Strep Throat because that is easily fixable and we're fixin' it... with bubble gum flavored medicine that I would have been grateful for if it actually made the medicine taste more like "real bubble gum" and less like "disgusting."



I am grateful that these are my biggest problems.  Grateful that this did not feel like a "bad day," but rather a day where everyone was sick with manageable illnesses... and that this too shall pass.

I am grateful for Dr. Fabulous returning home relatively early and allowing me the luxury of a late-day run.  "You better go now to beat the sun" he ordered, motioning to the gigantic red ball only inches from the horizon.  So I left and ran hard, because I had to beat the sun.  I did my fourth and final  mile in the development across the street because I knew it would be dark by then and I had to get off the main roads.



My last mile felt good because I wasn't "training," I was just running... like when running used to be fun.  Running by the light of the street lamps, my feet slapping the pavement, keeping rhythm with the cicadas.  Running fast to get back home, to all for which I am grateful.