Easy

Found Nuala in the kitchen this morning half way to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She was making it look easy. She was making it look like she'd been doing it for years.

As if to say, "Oh no big deal mom, can you please find me some jelly? The Strawberry is all gone and Grape will simply not do, thank you darling."

I was impressed with her resolve, but also a little surprised to find that a simple twist tie nearly got in the way. Seems like quite a bit of work in order to get around such a small obstacle.

But that's exactly what life is like sometimes. There are always going to be obstacles and we are hopefully going to be finding new and creative ways to hurdle right over them.

Looking at my daughter's nutty knuckles and the shards of plastic bread bag shredded and strewn about the kitchen this morning I had to wonder why we make it so hard on ourselves when it could be so easy.

Well, almost.

Hello 32, I love you. I am ready for you, I've been waiting for you for months now. 31 was rough (no offense 31 but if 32 doesn't punch you in the face, 33 is right around the corner so get LOST, this from a pacifist) and I'm ready to get on with the show. I'm ready for some easy.

Don't get me wrong, I know that all the hardship of the last year has changed me for the better. I know that I will look back on it one day and feel peaceful, probably even grateful that I got to travel the various paths of this hidden and sorrowful landscape. Grateful that I took the long way across even though there was most certainly an easier alternative. I know that during the difficult times in life we learn more about who we are and where we are going, and that these trials help us to truly embrace and appreciate all of the good times and all of the easy.

But damn I feel like I've been trying to use a kiddie scissors for way too long now to get around a seemingly simple twist tie. I swear there better be one mother of a peanut butter sandwich waiting on the other side of this because I am starving. Crunchy please, hold the grape with a double side of easy.

Best birthday ever once again.

Nuala and Oscar started back at their Montessori school and are in heaven, Saoirse cries the whole way home after we drop them off. "YOU BUCKLE ME OUT!" she hollers in between her sobs. Sheesh, put your 2 year old in underwear for a few days and suddenly she thinks she's in the big leagues and starts getting all bossy-mc-boss-ster on you from the back seat (*hahaha, yeah right she's pretty much been mcbossy for a while now and who are we kidding, she IS the big leagues, they all are). I hope she soon learns to enjoy the perks of being an only child for a few hours every day.

Otherwise life carries on in usual and predictable ways (which is pretty much just my generic way of saying that the typing part is over now).....

Yes, life as usual indeed. Water fountains for bare feet and foreheads for bed tumbles, on with the show please I seem to have fallen in love with this routine.

And as a birthday present to myself I decided at the very last moment (think 32 minutes until start time) to run a 5K this past weekend. Oh how I miss running. 26:12 with an open heart.

Let's do big things this year okay? Big, glorious, easy things.

I'm ready right now.