Saturday was a crazy day. It was the type of day that I normally hate because I would just rather sit at home and relax. But, for some reason this Saturday's craziness seemed fitting, appropriate. My son had two birthday parties to attend. My daughter played in two different divisions in an all-day racquetball tournament and she sang in a Christmas concert. There was just enough time between each event to get to the next event. We left the house at 8 AM and did not return until 7:30 PM. This would normally be cause for an instant panic account on my part, but for once I relaxed and just decided to celebrate the day and the fact that we were lucky enough to be able to have that kind of day.
The first celebration was the first birthday party. I brought my son to one of his favorite places on earth: a little place where you can decorate your own pottery and have tea, hot chocolate, etc. I brought him thinking, well, either I will stay and watch him paint or maybe I will go to the book store next door. Whatever happens, happens. It ended up that my friend was also there dropping her twins off. We decided to go to the book store and then have coffee together. I bought four books for my daughter's Christmas present, and my friend and I sat down and had lunch AND coffee for a whole hour in a sweet little restaurant on the third floor above the bookstore that looks out over the bay. The bay was bright aquamarine, all covered with whitecaps. And for once, I finally took the opportunity, while in the situation, to say to myself, this is really nice. This just happened. I am here, with a friend, relaxing. My son is doing something he loves and so is my daughter. It wasn't planned, it just happened.
As the day progressed, I did this at each event. When my daughter won all of her racquetball matches but one, I just told her how awesome she did and I was just there. I wasn't melting down because we only had ten minutes to get to the next thing. I was just there. Telling her she did great. At the concert, I just soaked in the white twinkly lights, the beautiful girls as they stood on stage in their white blouses and their black pants. They had on sparkly Christmas necklaces. I teach or have taught most of the girls who were up there on that stage and I was able to think about each of them, but especially my daughter, as they sang. I was able to reflect on what amazing people they were all turning out to be, having known most of them since they were little sweet girls who would wear pink dresses with flounces. Now their day to day life consists of sweatshirts, Aeropostale t-shirts, and jeans, so it's hard to notice how beautiful and grown-up and wonderful they've become. But as they stood there beneath those lights, their beautiful voices wrapping us all up like Christmas presents I thought, yes, this is a good day.
I had a calm Saturday, but a crazy day today. Like your day, it was also a good one. Just hectic!
Posted by: Stacey | December 08, 2009 at 09:27 PM