A Typical Morning in My Funny and Normal Life

In case you're wondering what it's like to be me in the AM...well it's not so bad. A little busy...but not so bad.  You’re probably not wondering at all, but I’m going to tell you anyway.

I wake up at 5am. I lay there until I can feel Charles hovering over me, impatiently, waiting to make the bed. I let out a deep breath and sit on the edge of the bed, then stand...slowly. It's hard to get up at 5 am. I make my way over to the dresser where I sleepily grab my things for the shower. I make my way to the bathroom with my eyes closed because the light is dreadfully bright. I shower. I put my hair in a towel. I am still not awake and proceed to unmake the bed Charles just made. I lay there while Charles showers, and think hard of a good excuse not to go to work. Sometimes I think of one, and stay home. But most other days I decide there isn't a good enough reason and get up to get ready. Charles gets out of the shower and usually says something sarcastic like, "Isn't it a beautiful morning?” I groan. Charles fixes the bed...again. I get ready. Charles wakes up Briana and gets her dressed. Sometimes Briana is a happy morning person. Sometimes Briana is like me. On the mornings she is like me, we argue about the pants I have picked out for her, and then we argue about whether or not her hair should go up.

"It's going to be in your face." I say.
"I like it in my face." She says.
"It's looks pretty up." I say.
"I want it down!" She says.
"I'll let you take your Barbie to school." I say.
"Okay." She says.

She goes down for breakfast and I finish up in the bathroom. I creep into Hudson's room. I stare at him for a minute. He still lays face flat on the bed with his butt in the air. I hate waking him up. Babies should always sleep as long as possible. I rub his back and he starts to stretch. Then he reaches for me to hold him. We walk down the stairs together. If he see's Jake (our Golden Retriever) he will point at him and say, "No bite Jake!" If he see's one of the cats he will say, "Kitty Kitty! Meow!" I laugh and put him in the highchair. I put some cereal, a waffle, or strudel on his plate. He takes a few bites, and then he plays with it or throws it on the floor. Briana, too, has issues with eating in the morning. Sometimes I spend the rest of the morning pleading with both of them to eat more.
 
At about this time I get mad at myself for not making my lunch the night before, unless it's Thursday. On Thursday I usually go out for lunch with co-workers, so I’m glad I don't have to spend time making it in the morning or being mad at myself for not making it last night. But since it's usually not Thursday I spend two or three minutes staring inside the fridge door deciding what I should make. Eventually I break down and make a sandwich, or throw a frozen meal in a Wal-Mart bag. Charles eats breakfast and kisses us goodbye. I clean up Hudson and Briana and if we have time, let them watch a few minutes of whatever is on Nickelodeon. Bad parenting? Probably. But I need a few minutes to gather my things...and no matter what people say, Dora is educational!

I put laundry in the dryer, if it's done washing. I walk Jake in the front yard while I simultaneously keep a close distance with Hudson who has followed me outside and is trying to master the porch steps. I put Jake in his cage and tell Briana it's time to put on her shoes. She cries and says she doesn't want to wear her sandals and insists on wearing flip flops. I tell her they are not good for school and demand she puts on her sandals. She tells me I'm a mean mommy.

I tell Hudson to find his shoes. I always do this last. Hudson associates shoes with, "Bye Bye" and gets very excited. He says, "Bye Bye?" and claps his little hands. If we can't leave immediately after we put the shoes on, he has a temper tantrum.

Finally, it's time to get in the car. Car Seats buckled? Check. Sippy cups? Check. Briana's nap time stuffed toy? Check. My lunch? Check. I take them to preschool and they kiss me goodbye. Briana doesn’t think I’m mean anymore, and Hudson is just happy that I’ve left him in a room full of toys. I trust the teachers will take care of them…which was hard to accept at first. And then it's time to head out into the big, scary, adult filled world. Trust me, I'd much rather be at home with them.

So on any weekday, this is pretty much the routine. It's typical for us, normal, chaotic, and stressful. I think most typical parents would agree. But mostly, it's just wonderful.  If you don't have kids, and still want to have kids after reading this, then it was meant to be. ;)

Keep Climbing

“I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.” -  Harry S Truman

I think this is the approach I’m going to take with my kids, and I think this is the approach that everyone should take with their own lives. Figure out what it is that you want to do and do it. No excuses. If it takes ten weeks, or ten years…it doesn’t matter. Sometimes we sit around and wish hard for it to be tomorrow, or we wish hard for it to be two months from now, or three years from now. Maybe you’re looking forward to getting married, having a baby, paying off debt, buying a home. Maybe you’ve experienced loss lately, and you’re searching for peace. Maybe you’re just in some kind of stupid slump. Whatever it is…we probably shouldn’t wish so hard to be in that place we’re searching for. Life is always going to be uphill. Did you hear that? It’s ALWAYS uphill. We will always have to fight for what we want and sometimes what we need. When you finally think you’ve reached your goal, there’s only going to be a new one to strive for. And how un-magical would that destination be anyway…if you could just snap your fingers to get there?

Go ahead and cry. Go ahead and stomp your feet. Whine and complain about how life sucks, how you never get your way, how the universe is out to get you. Feel sorry for yourself. Get mad at yourself. Go ahead and bitch.  I do everyday. You don’t have to feel guilty about it either. It’s okay, as long as you do it on the way to where you’re going. It’s okay as long as you come back from it and learn from it.

Okay, now that I’ve convinced myself…did I convince you? I know it’s so cliché…but we have the power. No matter your situation...now matter how hard it seems…no matter how much you don’t want to believe it…at the end of the day you have the power to be your best self. We can’t blame other people. We can’t even blame our situations. You may have a harder road or a longer road than someone you know but that’s just life. Sometimes life is hard and it’s almost always unfair. I get sad sometimes and I wish hard to wake up and be 20 lbs lighter. I wish hard to fast forward a year and start the underwriting program. I wish hard to win the lottery. On a deeper level I wish hard to find peace everyday, I wish hard to find a consistent flow of happiness, I wish hard to better the relationships between me and family or to have the strength to let some of these ties go loose. But what’s with all this wishing? I can do something this very moment to make that goal a little closer.

Don’t like your situation? Then change it. Don’t say, “It’s too hard.” You’ll never make it that way. Seriously! Ten years will go by…then twenty, and you’ll still be saying, “It’s too hard.” So that’s your choice. Stay where you are or move ahead. Accept your life or improve it. Half of life is fate. The other half is up to you and me.

Man, I’ve got to start taking my own advice…