sunday notes

No quote today, just a little story about how we are taken care of in small ways. Friday I was tired. Nothing too overwhelming, really. And it kind of goes without saying when you're the mom, especially of small ones, that you will be tired. For some inexplicable reason a few times that morning I was on the verge of tears (like when Ben offered to stay a bit longer so I could go to the store to buy milk. What?).

In any case, my daughter had preschool out in the far reaches of the universe that morning so I arranged to drop her off at another fellow preschooler's house who lives at about the half way mark and her mom would take them to school and bring them back and then I'd pick her up a little later. This was a small blessing in it's self, because then the baby could actually have his entire morning nap with out having to be put down late and awoken early, which I did earlier this week with not so desirable results.

I called around 12:30 to see if they were home so I could come and pick my daughter up, but the mom said they had just run off to play upstairs so I could leave her there to play for awhile. I called back a few hours later. The fun was still continueing and my daughter could stay for another hour or so.

It's a small thing really. But I needed a more quiet day that day. And my daughter needed to spend some time at a friends house, which she loves to do, but doesn't get to that often (which is probably my fault due to a gross lack of understanding regarding the play-date system that permeates NY).

A little before 3 p.m. I put my two (!) children in the car and we went to get my daughter. My three year-old fell asleep on the way. She slept through the visit to the gas station and the drive to Target, where she woke up not grumpy (an amazing feat for this child). We had a good time looking at Christmas decorations and picking up a few things. It was dark outside when we headed home so we took a detour, looked at a few Christmas lights, and listened to Barbara Streisand's version of Jingle Bells one million times. It was a lot of fun.

I won't tell you bedtime was perfect, and that I didn't yell at all (I was still tired, is my excuse I guess). But I was grateful for a few little things someone did unknowingly on my behalf, having no idea how much it had made my day easier and better.