Getting out the door in the morning always feels like running a gauntlet. Trying to find the balance between getting up early enough to avoid a rush and letting Diana get enough sleep so she's not a monster feels like an impossible equation to solve. Mondays are the hardest days. After two delicious days of sleeping in, the sound of the alarm going off feels aggressive and rude.
(Side note: There is one moment of levity I can count on every morning. I set Diana’s Alexa to wake her up to “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, and it makes me giggle EVERY TIME I hear “Jitterbug….jitterbug…Alexa, STOP!”)
This past Monday, we had an especially challenging morning. Shoes were lost. Breakfast took longer than usual. I poured a cup of coffee but never seemed to have a moment to drink it. Decisions about which mask to wear turned took on major significance. It was a whole thing. I was trying not to lose my patience, but I grew more and more nervous that we would miss the bus. The bus had developed this nasty habit of being slightly early lately. As I hustled Diana into her coat, I heard a text message come through. It was from one of the other mom's at the bus stop telling me that she had just seen the bus coming down the hill and that I only had about 60 seconds to get to the bus stop.
We booked it - and made it right on time. Just as the last kid started to climb the bus stairs, we rounded the front of the bus and she climbed aboard. I took a deep breath, thanked my friend Nikita for the heads up about the bus and headed out for my morning walk.
I had gotten about halfway around the block when I got another text message from my friend Liz, "Is your dog out?" My heart dropped, and I started to hustle back home. Before I got too far, Liz had offered to go scoop up the dog and I got another text message from my friend Rachael asking Lindsey had gotten out because she saw a post on our neighborhood Facebook page that looked like our dog. I rounded the corner and saw Lindsey meandering down the sidewalk in my direction, like it was the most natural thing in the world. I froze and let her work her way down the street to me - then, I scooped her up and carried her back all the way back to the house.
When I sat down at the counter to drink the cup of coffee I poured before our scurry to the bus stop, I started chuckling. What a crazy way to start the day - and at the same time, so much to be grateful for. I could either lean into the "Mondays suck and this is the Mondayiest of Mondays ever" vibe or focus on all that went right in the morning. A friend came in clutch to make sure we got to the bus on time. Even though we left the door open in the rush, the dog didn't go far. A quick thinking neighbor tried to grab her and when she evaded capture, took a photo and posted it on the neighborhood Facebook page. Two friends saw it and quickly texted me to make me aware. If they hadn't, I would have been gone for 30 minutes and who knows where Lindsey could have gone? Lindsey came to me when she saw me and let me carry her into the house instead of making me chase her.
These days, it can be hard to muster up the energy to find reasons to be grateful, but I find that the more I look for the positive angle throughout the day, the more I train myself to see it. don't get me wrong - I don't want to have another Monday morning like last week, but I know that if/when I do, there will be something in the chaos to be grateful for, if I just look for it.
Such great reads as always. Thanks for sharing! Hugs!