I left work covered in black ink, as usual and got a call that Poppy had thrown up at school. I was already on my way for Tuesday lunch dates, and got there as fast as I could. As usual, she was optimistic, smiling, and level-headed... "I threw up, now my stomach doesn't hurt."
I love that about her. I need more of that in me.
She took a bath, we watched discovery health channel. I had a long overdue "mechanics of birds and bees" chat with her. She was embarrassed. We moved on (It's over, I did it! No one died! Hooray!).
We snuggled until Flynn and Avalon got home. They bickered and made a mess cracking boiled eggs. We folded laundry and I took out all of my "these don't look right on me, why are they still here!?" shirts out of my closet.
We snuggled and watched Face Off. I made dinner.
A deer came to visit. She loved apples, but snubbed stale Dave's Killer Bread. Josh came up the lane in his work van and the kids greeted him like they hadn't seen him in 10 years.
Like always.
We ate and cleaned up. The neighbor boy knocked on the door, breathless, and asked if he could show the kids (Poppy) a few magic tricks.
Now homework.
It's days like these that I truly, really appreciate and want to remember. How nice it was to have Poppy all to myself.... How poised and BIG she is.... Avalon smiling and running to me from the bus, covered in school dirt with crazy hair... The boy carefully picking egg shells off the floor with his dirty hands.... Conversation.... Avalon gazing out the window, wearing only pink underwear, singing "Unconditional" by Katy Perry to our doe.... The neighbor boy's flushed, cold cheeks.... Josh saying "Flynn, we aren't going to have a conversation about hypothetical juice boxes.
I don't live in the moment as much as I should. I don't appreciate these small, delicious things as much as I want to. I am trying to get better at this, but it's okay when I don't. I am trying to be gentler to myself as well. I should be kinder to myself when I suck a little. We all should.
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