It happened just the other day. I finish a hard day teaching school and make my way toward home. I open the front door, my school bag full of papers in one hand and the day’s mail in the other. I step in and look up, and ……everything is everywhere.
Then I remember. My husband rented a carpet cleaner this morning.
I should be thankful, right? And yes, I am – somewhere down deep. But right now, I feel like a butterfly with no where to land, a bird with no nest, a book with no shelf. You get the idea.
I’m no neat freak, but my chaos is controlled. And when my boys were little, those pockets of chaos overflowed, but I always had my islands of calm.
Those islands were a few spots in the house where no toys were allowed. I kept those spots picked up, neat, and reasonably free from clutter. I could go there and sit for a moment, pretending the rest of my house looked like that.
But now? I look around, and I have to turn sideways to squeeze past chairs. I can’t seem to find a place to light!
Then I remember…this is temporary. By tomorrow sometime, the carpets will be dry and beautiful, and everything will eventually get moved back into place.
Of course there’s a blessing, some gratefulness, a silver lining. I just have to get past my momentary frustration.
I’m finding it easier to find that thankfulness these days. I’ve been blogging and thinking and writing about gratitude for the entire month, and I’m finding it’s on the tip of my tongue.
The gratitude is much closer to the surface. Much easier to unwrap.
So I look around once more and smile as I shake my head. It’s easy to be grateful when I remember what this scene was like when four little boys followed me into the house – toys out of place, nowhere to sit, electronic gadgets unhooked and moved. Good thing we live in Florida. I’d turn and say, “Drop your backpacks and spend some time outside, guys.”
So I’m grateful. For those days, for these days, for ever-present gratefulness, and for a husband who cares about my carpet. Linking up with Tuesdays Unwrapped, celebrating the small things.
What can you celebrate today?
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4 comments:
Lovely post Laura. I love how you express so beautifully about finding a spot that is relative calm and neatness. This is what I try to do now.
I bet those carpets look fantastic and now you have a lot of space to land.
I'm celebrating having us all home together this week.
You know with all the remodeling at my house how much chaos there has been so I could really identify with this post today. love the line, "The gratitude is much closer to the surface. Much easier to unwrap." so true. Thanks Laura
I'm laughing out loud as I remember those days...sometimes, when I am talking to one of the other brothers, we recall the carpet cleaning day that meant we all had to stay in whatever room wasn't being cleaned. The whole routine was upside-down all day! As crazy as it sounds, I miss that.
Big smile....cleaning up so you have to do more cleaning. That's the way it is at my house! But, hey, I have a house to clean, right?
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