After writing my last posts I felt pretty guilty for blasting such melancholy all over the place. I was clearly misplacing my energy. I have improved my outlook significantly, and my Valentine's Day is a good snapshot of all that is good and how easy it is to see that with things in the proper perspective.
The truth is, I was in Kinko's for almost two hours yesterday evening, yes, Valentine's Day. This sounds like a disaster, but in actuality, it was part of a good Valentine's Day.
The evening before the big V-Day I baked some beautiful cut-out cookies for the kids and some friends. I don't know if you remember this but I do believe a bag of Valentine cut-out cookies was one of my first excuses for randomly coming to your door after having met you a few times when I was new to the Jenifer Street neighborhood and putting myself out there.
I decorated paper bags for the kids, taped some old valentines from the basement on, and filled them with chocolate and I-Tunes cards, put them sitting out for when they woke up.
In the morning I had a quick run with my running buddy and got the kids to school. Madeline was up without prompting and gussying up for the Valentine's Dance. Amazing how motivated a middle school girl can be to get out of bed when there's something to get ready for.
I took our small staff at the non-profit where I'm the director for a Valentine's coffee and got to find out what the other ladies' perspectives were on Valentine's day. The consensus -- good excuse to go for a decent meal. I ate a delicious huge Valentines mint brownie given to me by a co-worker for lunch at my desk. I got almost everything I wanted to get done at work done.
I got a positive update from some family members about my grandma, who was recently admitted to the hospital. Without getting into details, I'll say that she's doing much better, but in the midst of my baking on Monday night and my day on Tuesday, I said a lot of prayers that she would be okay, and I thought a lot about my sense of responsibility to follow through on what that woman (and others) gave to put me and these kids where we are. She was a teenage mom, had 7 kids with the love of her life (I think he was, anyway) and that dude disappeared from the family for a relationship with alcohol addiction by the time she was 30. She figured out a way to get a decent job despite limited education and worked her way through raising all those kids. She still figured out how to be a grandma, too -- inviting each of her 17 grandkids over for sleepovers, providing Christmas gifts for everybody, etc. Anyway, humbling to reflect on all she's done and how spoiled I and my kids are in perspective.
When I came home after work there was a nice card and gift card waiting for me -- again, without getting into detail let's say that it's not a very romantic Valentine's Day, and that's how it should be, but I still got a really nice gift from the guy, which I really appreciated.
I treated myself to a cooks' night off and let the kids get take-out for dinner before taxiing Madeline to her volleyball practice. She and I had a nice conversation on the way there AND back -- a real treat. I allowed Peter to stay home on his own during the practice which means he was psyched -- alone time. And I got over to Kinko's for some work stuff that just needed to get done.
When Mads and I got home, we got to watch "the Voice" with Peter -- all three of us, into it, together.
It was a great day, and I hope yours was too.
Today was a good day too, and I just settled myself in on the couch in the quiet house now that the kids are down. I flipped on the TV to watch the Daily Show and Colbert, and lo and behold -- I saw it! I had heard about your Henry in the VW commercial and I just randomly saw it now for the first time. It is a great commercial, Henry is so great and grown up and handsome, and -- wow! Will this be the reel they play when he is at the top of his fame and on the late night talk shows promoting a movie he stars in, and they ask about how he got started? I guess that new agent -- not to mention your commitment, and the kid's sheer talent -- are paying off!
So. . . . here's a question: what would you think about a visit from Peter, Mads, and myself over our spring break? I'll call you about that one. But you do need to respond to this blog post, honey.
The truth is, I was in Kinko's for almost two hours yesterday evening, yes, Valentine's Day. This sounds like a disaster, but in actuality, it was part of a good Valentine's Day.
The evening before the big V-Day I baked some beautiful cut-out cookies for the kids and some friends. I don't know if you remember this but I do believe a bag of Valentine cut-out cookies was one of my first excuses for randomly coming to your door after having met you a few times when I was new to the Jenifer Street neighborhood and putting myself out there.
I decorated paper bags for the kids, taped some old valentines from the basement on, and filled them with chocolate and I-Tunes cards, put them sitting out for when they woke up.
In the morning I had a quick run with my running buddy and got the kids to school. Madeline was up without prompting and gussying up for the Valentine's Dance. Amazing how motivated a middle school girl can be to get out of bed when there's something to get ready for.
I took our small staff at the non-profit where I'm the director for a Valentine's coffee and got to find out what the other ladies' perspectives were on Valentine's day. The consensus -- good excuse to go for a decent meal. I ate a delicious huge Valentines mint brownie given to me by a co-worker for lunch at my desk. I got almost everything I wanted to get done at work done.
I got a positive update from some family members about my grandma, who was recently admitted to the hospital. Without getting into details, I'll say that she's doing much better, but in the midst of my baking on Monday night and my day on Tuesday, I said a lot of prayers that she would be okay, and I thought a lot about my sense of responsibility to follow through on what that woman (and others) gave to put me and these kids where we are. She was a teenage mom, had 7 kids with the love of her life (I think he was, anyway) and that dude disappeared from the family for a relationship with alcohol addiction by the time she was 30. She figured out a way to get a decent job despite limited education and worked her way through raising all those kids. She still figured out how to be a grandma, too -- inviting each of her 17 grandkids over for sleepovers, providing Christmas gifts for everybody, etc. Anyway, humbling to reflect on all she's done and how spoiled I and my kids are in perspective.
When I came home after work there was a nice card and gift card waiting for me -- again, without getting into detail let's say that it's not a very romantic Valentine's Day, and that's how it should be, but I still got a really nice gift from the guy, which I really appreciated.
I treated myself to a cooks' night off and let the kids get take-out for dinner before taxiing Madeline to her volleyball practice. She and I had a nice conversation on the way there AND back -- a real treat. I allowed Peter to stay home on his own during the practice which means he was psyched -- alone time. And I got over to Kinko's for some work stuff that just needed to get done.
When Mads and I got home, we got to watch "the Voice" with Peter -- all three of us, into it, together.
It was a great day, and I hope yours was too.
Today was a good day too, and I just settled myself in on the couch in the quiet house now that the kids are down. I flipped on the TV to watch the Daily Show and Colbert, and lo and behold -- I saw it! I had heard about your Henry in the VW commercial and I just randomly saw it now for the first time. It is a great commercial, Henry is so great and grown up and handsome, and -- wow! Will this be the reel they play when he is at the top of his fame and on the late night talk shows promoting a movie he stars in, and they ask about how he got started? I guess that new agent -- not to mention your commitment, and the kid's sheer talent -- are paying off!
So. . . . here's a question: what would you think about a visit from Peter, Mads, and myself over our spring break? I'll call you about that one. But you do need to respond to this blog post, honey.
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