An email I wrote in the spring of 2015 to some friends ~ I still think about this little four year old perspective moment and smile. It changed my life and it was just one little sentence.
Hey Girls,
I tried to send an email already but I don't think it worked.
First of all thank you S for phone me this morning and R thanks for phoning me later on.
Today was so rainy and dark and I was so tired. Little four year old sweet pea coughed for hours last night. I sat up holding her and finally she fell asleep on a chair sitting up and I was on the couch. I had asked E for cough meds at about 10:30 and ran across and got some but they didn't kick in for who knows how long. Anyway this morning when I woke up I just wanted to sort of transported somewhere sunny for a while. My children have been sick for a week now and I have left the house to get groceries once and to pick up oldest one from school a couple times and to go to a baby shower where I knew only two people and I stayed for about twenty minutes, but it was super awkward, and I felt like a huge loser, and I had put a lot of stock in going. Also the baby was sick to and I had to bring him. He screamed all the way there and home, and anyway it was not quite the pick me up I had hoped for.
So back to today ~
This is not me putting pressure on you
please understand that
Just a thank you for phoning. Your voices and just the adult conversation really inspired me.
At one point in the day I was lying on my carpet just not able to keep my eyes open and everyone was sort of crying around me. I just thought...wow...
So after the conversations, and some break through with eight year old, who was having a super bad day...I got us all outside for a walk.
It was glorious because we made it so
Sweet Pea filled her boots almost to the top with water and walked most of the time with them like that because she was jumping so vigorously in puddles.
She had a stick and big pine cone in hand was just so happy
Eight Year old walked a bit ahead but when we were together we were talking about all the signs of spring ~
The snow drops everywhere, signs that tulips are coming and crocuses, and noticing the things about people's houses that made them unique and special.
We chatted about house numbers and he could identify them (the first time in his life)
and then we got home
And I sighed and said...'well there is nothing special about this house though'
And I was seeing the drab brown, the chips in the stucco, the rusting railing, and the moss and dead leaves and just all the signs of age and no one really having time to care for this house.
Sweet Pea four year old looked at me in shock.
And said, ' MOM our house is COVERED in DIAMONDS'....like I was insane to think our house was not special!
And it just sort of opened my eyes again
It was great. Then she sat down on the curb and proceeded to pour all the water out of her boots with sparkling eyes
Then we went in and everyone divested themselves of their wet things and they started watching shows and doing their thing but the miracle was that baby who never sleeps went down for a nap
I was able to quickly prepare a bit of a dinner, do my hair and put on lipstick, fold laundry, wash dishes, light a candle and get the dining room and kitchen all clean. So husband walked in ~ exhausted, sick and tired and the house was nice. He was really grateful and we had the best dinner we have had ( as in the kids behaving) in months. All we had was a roasted chicken from Save On and potatoes and green beans but we had the candle in the middle of the table and it was sort of magical and I pulled out the video camera because hubby sat baby boo in the high chair and gave him a mini potato to suck on and he was so happy.
So I videotaped everyone and it was just great
So thanks so much for everything today girls
Sending you lots of love and a great weekend
I love how if we can look at our lives through our children's eyes sometimes...really hear their perspective, sometimes it is like God speaks right through them to us (probably more than we realize). And we will see diamonds instead of old stucco that is missing in most places
Lots of Love
Tansy
Just tucked everyone in and Sweet Pea is coughing up a lung again so off I go
Hey Girls,
I tried to send an email already but I don't think it worked.
First of all thank you S for phone me this morning and R thanks for phoning me later on.
Today was so rainy and dark and I was so tired. Little four year old sweet pea coughed for hours last night. I sat up holding her and finally she fell asleep on a chair sitting up and I was on the couch. I had asked E for cough meds at about 10:30 and ran across and got some but they didn't kick in for who knows how long. Anyway this morning when I woke up I just wanted to sort of transported somewhere sunny for a while. My children have been sick for a week now and I have left the house to get groceries once and to pick up oldest one from school a couple times and to go to a baby shower where I knew only two people and I stayed for about twenty minutes, but it was super awkward, and I felt like a huge loser, and I had put a lot of stock in going. Also the baby was sick to and I had to bring him. He screamed all the way there and home, and anyway it was not quite the pick me up I had hoped for.
So back to today ~
This is not me putting pressure on you
please understand that
Just a thank you for phoning. Your voices and just the adult conversation really inspired me.
At one point in the day I was lying on my carpet just not able to keep my eyes open and everyone was sort of crying around me. I just thought...wow...
So after the conversations, and some break through with eight year old, who was having a super bad day...I got us all outside for a walk.
It was glorious because we made it so
Sweet Pea filled her boots almost to the top with water and walked most of the time with them like that because she was jumping so vigorously in puddles.
She had a stick and big pine cone in hand was just so happy
Eight Year old walked a bit ahead but when we were together we were talking about all the signs of spring ~
The snow drops everywhere, signs that tulips are coming and crocuses, and noticing the things about people's houses that made them unique and special.
We chatted about house numbers and he could identify them (the first time in his life)
and then we got home
And I sighed and said...'well there is nothing special about this house though'
And I was seeing the drab brown, the chips in the stucco, the rusting railing, and the moss and dead leaves and just all the signs of age and no one really having time to care for this house.
Sweet Pea four year old looked at me in shock.
And said, ' MOM our house is COVERED in DIAMONDS'....like I was insane to think our house was not special!
And it just sort of opened my eyes again
It was great. Then she sat down on the curb and proceeded to pour all the water out of her boots with sparkling eyes
Then we went in and everyone divested themselves of their wet things and they started watching shows and doing their thing but the miracle was that baby who never sleeps went down for a nap
I was able to quickly prepare a bit of a dinner, do my hair and put on lipstick, fold laundry, wash dishes, light a candle and get the dining room and kitchen all clean. So husband walked in ~ exhausted, sick and tired and the house was nice. He was really grateful and we had the best dinner we have had ( as in the kids behaving) in months. All we had was a roasted chicken from Save On and potatoes and green beans but we had the candle in the middle of the table and it was sort of magical and I pulled out the video camera because hubby sat baby boo in the high chair and gave him a mini potato to suck on and he was so happy.
So I videotaped everyone and it was just great
So thanks so much for everything today girls
Sending you lots of love and a great weekend
I love how if we can look at our lives through our children's eyes sometimes...really hear their perspective, sometimes it is like God speaks right through them to us (probably more than we realize). And we will see diamonds instead of old stucco that is missing in most places
Lots of Love
Tansy
Just tucked everyone in and Sweet Pea is coughing up a lung again so off I go
That is so beautiful - it made me cry. How often do we miss the diamonds because we can only see all the drab. Sometimes it takes the rain to make them sparkle.
ReplyDeleteI love you tansy - you're so inspiring!
Oh Tansy, I love this. I had to giggle because it brought back a childhood memory of a big two storey building that my mum used to park next to in town when we would visit the shops and I would pull little bits of quartz off the building and pocket them, I just thought they were so beautiful ❤️
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