Time

The fourth time I hit the snooze button on my alarm this morning, I finally realized - resistance is futile.

So, I turned my alarm off and laid back down, knowing I was not going to fall back asleep, (if only I could be so lucky). As I lay there, in my oh-so-perfect bed, I started thinking about time.

There are some people in this world who completely amaze me. They are so inspiring and have accomplished so much. I want to be like them.

But no. I'm not them. I'm me. Who's "me", though? Am I an inspiring or accomplished person? Not really. But why? There are just as many hours in my day as in theirs.

So then and there I decided. I was going to make something of the time granted to me today. I was going to be the best version of myself that I could be.

Then my oldest child walked in the room. Here goes...

"Good morning, Molly!" with a big smile on my face. (Best - check)

Fast forward to breakfast time. Kiddos start whining about... everything.

I sing happy songs as I pour the milk over their cereal. (Best - check)

Sniff sniff. Poopy diaper. It's my son's.

I whisk him away to the changing table and sing and laugh with him as I clean him up. (Best - check)

As I'm changing his bum, my middle child, Emma, walks in and says, "Mom, do you like changing poopy diapers?"

It was a teaching moment that I couldn't pass up.

I told her that it wasn't that I liked changing poopy diapers, but that there was a poopy diaper to be changed and I might as well be happy while I'm changing it. We used that metaphor all through chore time this morning and it worked like a charm.

Once the chores were done, the girls wanted to do something fun. With my committment to myself to make something of this day, I decided that making something of MY day meant making something of my children's day.

They wanted to do a lemonade stand. Forecast said the high would be 74 degrees.

They wanted to do a punch and cookies stand. Forecast said it would be raining.

They wanted to make cookies and deliver them to their friends. Now that, I could do. We made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, strapped the baskets to the bikes and headed off.

We had never been on a mom-pushing-brother-in-the-stroller-while-sisters-ride-bikes walk before, and 3 minutes into it I'm thinking we should have done a trial run.

After a crazy busy street crossing, we finally make it to the first friends house. Emma was so excited to give them the cookies that she promptly crashed at the end of their driveway, and ran over the cookies which had flown out of her basket. A band-aid and 30 minutes of chit-chat later and we're off to the next friends house.

By now, I call Dan to bring the van and rescue us, because I'm fairly certain that we're not going to make it home before midnight. He obliges and meets us at 2nd friends house, where we end up visiting for the next 2 hours.

Finally, it's time to call it a day.

Now, I'm not so naieve as to think that my morning chore woes are over, or that I will forevermore be the best version of myself that I can be, but I am grateful for this happy morning and that I took the time to make something of this day.