Change of P(e)ace

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face for the first time in over a good week.  It felt great!  I helped Taylor get ready for school, as she insisted on a new lime green shorts and matching shirt from Grandma Mary, blue flip flops, a sparkling purple headband and a light blue sweat jacket to wear to school.  I didn't argue too much; it is nice out, and I know I did the same things as a child.  Just being able to wear summer clothes makes a person feel better some times, so I let it pass.

We strolled through the wet grass to go wait for the bus and Taylor's feet were covered  with dew.  She said, "Look mom it rained last night and now my feet are wet."  After giggling I explained to her how the grass gets dewy, and that it's not from rain.  Then she asked if snakes make the grass grow.  (this stemmed from yesterdays conversation as she said that God should kill all the snakes and I told her that everything God creates has a purpose)  I felt sort of silly at that moment as I couldn't come up with a stunning answer like I did for explaining the dew, so "I'm not really sure" seemed to work.  Now I guess I have something to google...  

After a kiss, a hug and an "I love you, have a good day at school", she flip flopped to the bus and I watched as they pulled away.  As I turned around I started to think about our, "hurry, hurry, hurry...  mom has 80 million things to do... stress, stress, stress... crabby, crabby, crabby" days that seemed to be getting all to normal.  Today I have a couple pages of a paper left to write and it will be my last one.  The stress is gone completely and not only do I notice how much better I feel, but also how my peace of mind has such an effect on my behavior and that relates to how well, or how bad, the morning could have gone.  Of course I knew this to be true before, but sometimes in all the madness in life, we forget. 

I am exstatic to say, "I am done with school", but I am happier to have my life back, my sanity back, and time for my family back.  Last night we all went for a walk on the trail that extends across our land at dusk, we saw around 20 deer, some of whom were only 50 yards away, listened to the frogs in the pond, and watched the cows rapidly run up to the fence thinking there was feed involved in the venture.  Seeing my daughters smiling face this morning, watching Brady excitedly get dressed to go out to the barn to see his dad and his puppy, and knowing I could come in and just relax if I want to, and spend the afternoon with all of them is the most peaceful feeling in the world.  It feels great to be "back"! 

All of this leads back to self-care, which is what I've been missing.  Many parts of the wheel have been gone for some time since I've been in school, but as of yesterday, my wheel will be complete once again.  When I feel good, so does my family.   What does your wheel look like?