I was completely done. Splitting headache. Flippy stomach from the stress of the day. Bone tired. I came home feeling guilty that I didn’t have an ounce left to give. Almost every other day, I rally and turn into the mommy interested in kids days and ready for robust dinner conversation. But when I arrived to not one but two children having emotional meltdowns, it was all I could not to meltdown in front of them right there.
Have you ever just had one of those days where every ounce of strength was gone?
In swoops my husband. At 6:45 I (essentially) announced I was going to bed. Moments later there was harmony in the house. I could hear him in the other room get the fireplace going and engage them in a rousing puzzle.
After play time, he had them packed off to brush teeth and put on pajamas. I walked in and kissed him and thanked him profusely even though there weren’t the right words to express how he saved me.
I turned around and announced to the kids, “I sure love your daddy!” The baby replied emphatically, “Well, we can seeeeeeee that!”
Oh that’s what I want. My heart did back flips. I so want my kids to see what insider love looks like. It’s not movie love with sweeping scores and jets that fly you off to parts unknown. It’s a love that jumps in when the other person doesn’t have a reserve and saves the day.
When I received a big award this week, love looked like us cracking open a $10 bottle of champagne to toast the recognition while the kids jumped around eating ice cream sundaes.
It is not perfect love. It is love that fights and has hurt feelings and missteps. But it is love. A crazy deep trusting confident love. And I’m so incredibly thankful, inexpressible grateful, to have the opportunity to know it.
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