Something Sweet

My kids have been so crabby lately.

So.

Crabby.

This morning was more of the same, and it seems magnified because Audrey's hearing is greatly diminished (due to her ear infections over Easter weekend) so every squabble is yelled.

It was all I could do to get them out the door and over to the school on time without joining in on the yelling myself, which is just the worst way to start your day, I'm tellin' ya.

When I returned home from dropping them off and had stepped out of my car, I couldn't help but pause for a moment and look out over the field as the sunlight started breaking through the trees to filter over the tall grass and flowers... and I realized I needed a walk.

So I put on my grubby garden shoes, grabbed a vessel just in case I found something worth carting around, and started making my way through the dewy grass.

I could still see my breath from the lingering chill of the past night.

I could hear frogs croaking around the pond, and our neighbors' horses calling to each other.

And I found lots and lots of dewberries.

 Best of all, though, I let go of the frustration of the morning, the Mama guilt, and the tension I'd been holding on to from the hoorah of getting the kids out the door. I felt good about the little things again (I'd gotten both kiddos to eat breakfast, they'd left the house with clean clothes on, and I'm pretty sure they both remembered to brush their teeth, high five). I had reset.

And I had almost two quarts of dewberries for the freezer.

When the kids come back home, they'll probably find a way to pick back up where they left off. There will probably be more yelling, tattling, and whatever else they come up with. I just need to remember that there's always something sweet hidden here and there among the thorny parts of the day- I just need to take the time to slow down and look.