Happiness Meme, Day 3
Today I am happy for a lot of reasons, most of which sort of compounded each other. I'll try to explain.
I spent most of the morning making Kilari laugh, which is something I haven't been doing enough of lately. We played catch with two giant soft balls, which soon dissolved into throwing them at each other, trying to hit the other's ball out of her hands, dribbling, and generally laughing and squealing. We pretended I was a giant bird that Ari could ride and i went prancing about the house in my best imitation of a Hawkstrider, screeching to boot, while Kilari bounced up and down on my back and giggled her curly golden head off. It was at this point that my mom came striding in through the garage door on a random visit. Though she lives 3.5 miles away and takes care of my children a couple of days a week, I barely see her anymore, and this was a most welcome visit. Her presence is soothing as only a good mother's is, and she is a much-needed living reminder to be patient and kind and compassionate. I was so glad that she walked in at that moment- us giggling and being ridiculous, standing out of breath in the living room. I'm always afraid that the picture of our lives that she pieces together from the snippets of crabbiness and sickness and misbehaviour that she somehow always manages to witness is not a very pretty one. It was a vivid affirmation to the opposite, and so yet another source of happiness. We went out for lunch in the style of days gone by, and she and Ari read books while I did yoga when we got home.
Then, this evening, we went to WIllow's school's book fair and chili dinner, which was good fun and cheap (yay!) and I got to see some of WIllow's friends, and all of the staff who know her and say hi to her and have nothing but good things to say and smiles to give. Her teacher even sat down with us for a bit to chat and say what a wonderful student Willow is; how cooperative and quiet (bordering on shy) and kind and hard-working, as well as how advanced and impressive her brain truly is. It was a pleasure to hear Willow giggling with her girlfriends and to learn about the strange and wonderful things 6 year olds dream up on the playground, and to see what a good friend she is, how our teaching and example must be having some effect, though apparently it only comes out when we're not around....
It was a wonderful day. I can't say there weren't moments of speaking sharply and counting to three and giving 'the eye,' but so many better things outweighed those by far.
So I'm happy.
I spent most of the morning making Kilari laugh, which is something I haven't been doing enough of lately. We played catch with two giant soft balls, which soon dissolved into throwing them at each other, trying to hit the other's ball out of her hands, dribbling, and generally laughing and squealing. We pretended I was a giant bird that Ari could ride and i went prancing about the house in my best imitation of a Hawkstrider, screeching to boot, while Kilari bounced up and down on my back and giggled her curly golden head off. It was at this point that my mom came striding in through the garage door on a random visit. Though she lives 3.5 miles away and takes care of my children a couple of days a week, I barely see her anymore, and this was a most welcome visit. Her presence is soothing as only a good mother's is, and she is a much-needed living reminder to be patient and kind and compassionate. I was so glad that she walked in at that moment- us giggling and being ridiculous, standing out of breath in the living room. I'm always afraid that the picture of our lives that she pieces together from the snippets of crabbiness and sickness and misbehaviour that she somehow always manages to witness is not a very pretty one. It was a vivid affirmation to the opposite, and so yet another source of happiness. We went out for lunch in the style of days gone by, and she and Ari read books while I did yoga when we got home.
Then, this evening, we went to WIllow's school's book fair and chili dinner, which was good fun and cheap (yay!) and I got to see some of WIllow's friends, and all of the staff who know her and say hi to her and have nothing but good things to say and smiles to give. Her teacher even sat down with us for a bit to chat and say what a wonderful student Willow is; how cooperative and quiet (bordering on shy) and kind and hard-working, as well as how advanced and impressive her brain truly is. It was a pleasure to hear Willow giggling with her girlfriends and to learn about the strange and wonderful things 6 year olds dream up on the playground, and to see what a good friend she is, how our teaching and example must be having some effect, though apparently it only comes out when we're not around....
It was a wonderful day. I can't say there weren't moments of speaking sharply and counting to three and giving 'the eye,' but so many better things outweighed those by far.
So I'm happy.