The little things

I am running low on sleep and had McDonalds for both lunch and dinner, so my fuel tank is making me nervous, but I've had a pretty fantastic week (since I'm choosing to overlook that not everyone thinks the way I or acts the way I do or respects other people's decisions in the same ways I do).

The hardest part of minding my business and holding firm to the belief that in no way is it my business what others think of me is when it slaps you right in the face and you're staring it down and there's not a damn thing you can do about it in a healthy way. So you have to make the choice against toxicity and anger and negativity. You choose to clamp down until you taste blood for as long as it takes to find your center again.

Because that center? It's rich and full and this week it filled me with laughter.

Who cares that we've watched Toy Story 80 times in the past four days? The kids love it and Bella spends the long minutes it takes to rewind our old VHS tape (that was recorded off cable back when Javi was a toddler) jumping from every semi-stable surface while exclaiming, "To ifinidy an beyong!" During the movie? They are rapt and silent.

And, yes, I am constantly refolding and putting away the kids' clothes (or more like hounding them to refold and put them away). But their clothes are strewn here and yonder because they love dressing each other up and running through the house playing cops and pirates and fairies.

A certain 9-year-old boy refused to have his picture taken in the fairy costume, but he did send me his sister who tried to dress herself after a costume session.

And then tonight, after a long session of blog coding*, the Mountain Man fed both kids Cheerios and then we headed out to see Pirates! The Musical -- Bella's first time sitting in a theatre and watching real people sing and dance and perform before her very eyes. So now not only does she want to be a pirate (thanks Pippi!), but she also wants to be one "up dere on dat stage" (as she stage-whispered through the whole show).

After the production ended, she swabbed the deck, steered the ship, and rowed to her heart's content. You can always tell when my kids are enjoying themselves because the can't stay still long enough to snap a photo -- which would've been easier if my batteries hadn't died right as I tried to snap a pic of Bella in the crow's nest. But that's why God invented camera phones, right (even if none of my people know how to look directly at them)?

See? The center will hold. The world will right itself. And as long as I focus only on that, we're gonna be alright.

*Be a gem and come tell me how much you like my new look. Pretty please?

***This post is part of !!! and Feel Good Fridays.***