Getting Better At This

Historically, I am not a fan of Jeff-less on the weekends. By now, I've had years of practice under my belt, my kids are not so little anymore, and I'm discovering that these single-parenting stints are getting a little easier. I feel a tiny bit proud of myself for being able to say, at the end of this day, that it wasn't a bad day.  A day we almost froze at a soccer game where my child's team suffered a dismal loss, the dog pooped on the floor, and some guy ran into me and my kids in the Subaru and proceeded to be a jerk and a bully about it despite his obvious fault.  While I cranked the heat up to 70 (unheard of in our house, and in May no less) after the game, was irritated with the dog, and rattled after the fender bender, I made it through the day without any major battles, meltdowns, or eruptions.  

Good things happened too.  The kids and I still had a big Saturday morning pancake breakfast.   We were on our way to bowling with a group from church when the fender bender occurred, and still had a fun time though we were quite late.  It was Anna's first time bowling, and she completely enjoyed herself.  Sometimes, her ball rolled so slowly down the lane it was a wonder it was moving at all.  Other times, the ball would drop with such a thud it was a wonder there wasn't a giant hole in the lane after the contact.  We also had a (Chinese food instead of pizza - there's only so much NY style a person can eat!) and movie "picnic" night.  The movie: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  Anna has never seen it, nor has she read or had read to her any of the books. Like HSM, it has been the coveted big-girl prize eluding her.  It is becoming a strategy of mine, this setting a child up to think she will get to watch a certain movie when she's thirteen, and just when she thinks she's waited for eternity, surprising her by letting her see it. She was so incredibly thrilled.  She kept saying, "I'm not even scared.  Look how brave I am!"  My girls are chickens when it comes to movies - I thought they could handle this one, however.  Even so, I calculated that a night when there is an empty space in my bed is a good time to show a movie that has a chance of turning out nightmares.  At any rate, I'll be awakened tomorrow morning by someone flouncing on top of me saying, "Mom! Mom! You be Professor Mc Gonagall and I'll be Hermione." 

I will remember this day for the good, and see it as a sign of progress to feel sane and pretty peaceful at the end of it.  I should probably turn the heat down now too.  And not order from that Chinese place again.