A Glimpse of Real Life

Happy Friday, friends!!  I was just giggling at Mamalooma's blog Kids&Crafts&Food&Love and one of her lines immediately brought to mind a post I'd just read by Amanda Soule at Soule Mama.  These two together said exactly what I've thought myself so many times lately.  So in the spirit of a semi-lazy Friday post, I'm going to let them both tell you what's been on my mind lately too.  Have a wonderful weekend and check out their original posts when you get a sec!!  Hugs ~J. 

Mamalooma says, "I tell you this (admittedly much too long) story so you know that even though I’m posting all these things I’m doing, most days I’m still just trying to brush my teeth or pee alone. Sometimes when I read crafty or fun mama blogs I feel like, “How can she possibly be doing all this creative s**t and be making all these things from scratch?” Yes, I’ve had good luck this far either incorporating the kids into my preservation efforts (not the boiling water stuff though) or doing the harder stuff with ample backup from Dan.

I am reminded of something Sharon Astyk wrote once. I will paraphrase as I got the book from the library. It was something like, “People see the things I do and wonder how I canned 30 quarts of tomatoes and harvested all our corn in one afternoon, but they don’t see how many times I told the kids to leave me alone and how my husband had to do a disgusting diaper change in the field with some corn husks.”

It’s a balance, and it’s healthy–nay, necessary–to see the humor in all this. As the saying goes, courage is feeling the fear and doing it anyway. It’s all part of the fun.

Right?" 

Soulemama says, "The adults around here have had a bit of a trying week. Nothing earth-shattering and everyone is healthy, so of course that's what really matters. But it's been just enough of a roller coaster to make our heads spin and our stomachs turn (and I really do hope there is happy news to share about all of this soon). I mention it, not to be vague or invoke mystery, but because it's too much of our life right now not to. Just like the pile of dishes, and the unphotographed piles of laundry. Of course, our home and our lives are full of that, just like I know yours are too. 

We all have so much 'life' happening all around us all of the time, don't we? Some good, some hard, some truly awful. It's in the context of that - a life of good and bad and up and down - that I write this tiny little blog post each and every day. And you know, these past few weeks, as has been the case before at times like this, it's been a little more challenging to find something 'nice' to say each day. But....it is precisely at weeks like these that I end up feeling so grateful for the way in which I've chosen to write here. To use this space as a way to see and seek the simple joys in our lives, and in my days. Because, of course, when you set about looking for it, that's what you find.

At the end of another long day here this week, a day full of frustrating phone calls, and tiresome paperwork, I found myself exhausted, deflated and sad as I sat down to look at the day's photos. And there...there I found these four photographs. Just these. They tell, to me, a most wonderful story of the day I had just had. They remind me that amidst the yuck, there was a whole lot of lovely too. Simple stay-at-home family pleasures and magical moments of connection and love and fun.

So, I edited my photos, plopped them into this here blog post, took a deep breath and found myself heading off to bed, smiling with the memory of Harper, Adelaide and Ezra running back and forth from the washtub to me, giggling all the while, and dumping cold water on Mama's toes. Which, really, is just about one of the greatest feelings, I've decided, in all of the world.

I was reminded that All is Well.

Thank you, blog."

No, Thank YOU Mamalooma and Soule Mama!!