Tuesday Realities

I leave from a long day at school. My daughter has been sick today at my parents' house so I pick her up and sing sweet songs to her all the way home to make her feel better. We enter our house. I take her upstairs, tuck her into bed, and lovingly place a bed tray with all her favorite snacks, hot tea, cough drops.

I head outside to our four dogs' kennels. While twirling around in a dance, I get the kennels sparkling clean and feed each dog a gourmet meal of their favorite raw meats. My husband is on the road coming back from Indianapolis. I call him and gently ask him if there is anything he needs me to do. He needs an invoice. Done! He needs me to put some vehicles on the internet. Done! He needs several other tasks done for his business. Done, done, done! All while doing laundry, taking care of my daughter, cooking the perfect supper.....keeping perfectly calm, whistling a cheerful tune.....

  

Ummmm, really? Keep dreaming! Here's how it really went down:

Left school terribly tired, feet hurting, mind exhausted. Picked up sick daughter, didn't sing on the way home. Got home, told daughter to go upstairs and lay down (I did manage to give her some medication to help her feel better minus the lovely snack tray). Decided to grill hot wings for supper. Sat down for about 5 minutes to try and collect myself. Went to the dogs, scooped what poop I could, fed them dry food since I'd forgotten to set any meat out to thaw. Husband calls...needs invoice. Husband calls....need me to list cars online. Husband calls...needs me to dispatch cars that I listed 20 minutes earlier. Husband calls...need bill of lading for his load sent to his phone. Husband calls, husband calls, HUSBAND CALLS!!!!! And why did I think it was a great idea to wash sheets this afternoon? I'm trying to grill chicken wings (another awesome idea!). I'm trying to get all this paperwork done. I want to have supper for my children at a decent hour (6:30 would be great). I yell at husband over the phone more than once. I'M TRYING TO GET THIS ALL DONE! Husband will be home at 9:00 and needs me to pick him up. Dirty dishes everywhere, son is trying to write a speech that he has known about...Mom, do you have notecards, this is due tomorrow! Wings are burning on grill.....didn't I put my sheets on to wash?....

breathe....

The evening turns out:

• The dogs don't care what they eat, they love me anyway and thought their food WAS a gourmet meal. They will have meat tonight.
• The kids and I ate supper at about 8:30. Not as early as I'd planned but it was delicious.
• I got all the paperwork done. Invoice made, cars listed and dispatched, bill of lading sent to Hubby's phone. Hubby got an apology for me yelling and he was understanding.
• Helped Hubby unload his cars from his truck and brought him back home where he was DELIGHTED to find a plate full of hot wings waiting.
• Dirty dishes eventually got done.
• Daughter was feeling better and helped me out with some housework.
• Son finished his speech (on home made notecards from printer paper).
• Somehow I remembered to dry the sheets earlier and got them on the bed around midnight.

I fell asleep a little after midnight and woke up at 5:00 am ready to go again and thankful for all I have. I love my family, my dogs, my home, my job, even if I do get overwhelmed sometimes and things aren't perfect.