What a week! The dog got hit by a car, the second teenage boy in the house reached driving age (not related to dog being hit by a car), and the fish died. The memorial day weekend brought massive rainstorms and a houseful of runny noses, high temperatures and sore throats. I now have my alarm clock set for every four hours so I can remember when it’s ok for every one in the house to have another round of tylenol (most of all me).

My teenager just came up to me and asked I saw anything in his ear. Oooooh….. yuck. Something in his ear? Fortunately, he told me this 10 minutes before his doctor’s office closed instead of 10 minutes after. We zipped down to the office and the report is good - yes, the kid is sick - no, there’s no critter in his ear. Just a good old fashioned earache that goes along with a sore throat.

The dog is in the house and there is dog hair everywhere. ugh. Usually, the dog spends most of his day outside and comes in just to sleep.

The pizza in the oven is completely black. Oh well, missed that one. Guess it’s peanut butter and jelly for dinner tonight. Although, everyone is still getting over colds and no one is very hungry anyway.

There is so much housework to do it’s mind boggling. It hardly seems possible to even make a dent.

Even in the midst of piles of laundry, dead fish, and burnt dinner there is so much sunshine. There is peace in the smile of your child, the hug, the littlest words of appreciation. While I was down at the doctors office the 8 year old called me and in his sweet little voice and said “Mom! I have something really important to say to you.” So I ask him what it is and he just replies “Bye. Just wanted to say that”.

There is a cheerios commercial playing right now that shows a dad eating cheerios and his infant in his arms eating dry cheerios one at a time. It is a sweet little commercial and it reminded me of the days my little darlings were that size. I remember being tired and always having too much to do and not enough time. It is one of the sweetest times as a parent when your baby falls asleep on your arms and you have that moment to just sit there with them and enjoy that moment.
Then all of a sudden they are teenagers. And being a mom becomes even more fun - and more challenging.

So, what is the point of all this? To me, it is important that we love every moment of this adventure and totally enjoy those little moments of joy and sunshine that are always here even through the rainclouds.