Grateful for...

...So many things I've been trying to focus on these past few days.  A good friend here was just diagnosed with breast cancer, and as always when something of this nature happens, it brings a renewed awareness of what is of real importance to my dreams and goals as a mama, wife, daughter, sister, and individual striving to be the best that I can in all the different roles I fill.

  Today I am grateful for my two healthy small ones, who are usually such great friends to each other and collaborators and companions in my day.  I'm grateful for the love and support of my best friend and team-mate in this complicated and sometimes unexpected journey called life.  I'm grateful for family always and friends near and far and the opportunities we are constantly discovering here in this quiet corner of the Midwest.  And I'll lighten-up for a moment and say that I am grateful these hot July days for wading pools and mud-soup pots in the yard and fresh local corn on the cob and coming home laden from the Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.

  I need to try harder at being patient, staying in the moment and on the smalls' level, and not yelling after repeating myself five or six times.  But I am pretty good at lots of time for hugs and stories and tickle-wrestling on the floor and mama-back rides and parties in the tee pee and messes with oobleck, play dough, and paints.  Right now my kitchen sink is full of dirty dishes soaking in cold dish-water that I never got to wash with 'cause I was outside refereeing the wading pool.  But we had still-warm-from-the-oven home-made bread, farmers market tomatoes and basil, and fresh mozzarella for dinner, and I managed to iron Todd's work shirts, and to sing several rounds each of the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, and Baa Baa Black Sheep with Moo past bedtime, and stayed to hold his hand as he struggled tonight to fall asleep.

  Every day there is a challenge to fit it all in, and things are always left to be dealt with tomorrow.  But I want to remind myself that this is the time that we are together, this is the time that the smalls are little and close, this is the time to embrace the moment, to keep on keeping on, and to be conscious and thankful for both the comforting every-day joys and the wondrous rich depth of my life.