January 7, 2014
Two nights ago it snowed. It didn’t snow a lot – one to two inches – but it did snow. We knew before going to bed on Sunday night that every school in town – public and private – would be closed on Monday. Not only did it snow, but prior to the snow, rain set in. And, as the rain set in, the temperatures dropped. When we went to bed we were looking at temps around eight degrees and knew that the wind chill factor on Monday would be around -11. What? On Monday morning we kept all of the curtains closed to keep out the drafts in our 60 plus year old house. The central ran on auxiliary and the space heater downstairs never shut off. Not only was it C-O-L-D, but the Moon (a girl who could give Tigger a run for his money), laid on the couch with a low-grade fever from the time she woke up until around 5PM. So, here we were, Mom and kids, in a dark house for the entire day never once venturing outside to enjoy this gift of a sunny snow day. Sigh.
But, each day is an opportunity to begin anew. The Moon was still out of school today but the Sun reported bright and early for the Spring semester. After school today, when we were all here once again, dinner was cooking on the stove, the Sun’s homework was completed and he said, “I think I’ll go sledding.” As has happened far too frequently in my career as a Mother, I said “okay” and watched him for a few minutes out of the back window. And then, I remembered that my promise to myself in this new year is to be fully engaged with my kids each and every day and with myself and with life and I quickly grabbed my coat and boots, yelled for the Moon to grab hers and we spend the next half hour dragging the sled up and down our little hill until our fingers were too cold to continue gripping the sled.
Make every moment count.
“In seed-time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” ~William Blake
Two nights ago it snowed. It didn’t snow a lot – one to two inches – but it did snow. We knew before going to bed on Sunday night that every school in town – public and private – would be closed on Monday. Not only did it snow, but prior to the snow, rain set in. And, as the rain set in, the temperatures dropped. When we went to bed we were looking at temps around eight degrees and knew that the wind chill factor on Monday would be around -11. What? On Monday morning we kept all of the curtains closed to keep out the drafts in our 60 plus year old house. The central ran on auxiliary and the space heater downstairs never shut off. Not only was it C-O-L-D, but the Moon (a girl who could give Tigger a run for his money), laid on the couch with a low-grade fever from the time she woke up until around 5PM. So, here we were, Mom and kids, in a dark house for the entire day never once venturing outside to enjoy this gift of a sunny snow day. Sigh.
But, each day is an opportunity to begin anew. The Moon was still out of school today but the Sun reported bright and early for the Spring semester. After school today, when we were all here once again, dinner was cooking on the stove, the Sun’s homework was completed and he said, “I think I’ll go sledding.” As has happened far too frequently in my career as a Mother, I said “okay” and watched him for a few minutes out of the back window. And then, I remembered that my promise to myself in this new year is to be fully engaged with my kids each and every day and with myself and with life and I quickly grabbed my coat and boots, yelled for the Moon to grab hers and we spend the next half hour dragging the sled up and down our little hill until our fingers were too cold to continue gripping the sled.
Make every moment count.
“In seed-time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.” ~William Blake
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