2013 was an interesting year for us...it started out with Munchkin very sick and spending a week in the hospital in January. Frozen pipes, broken snowblower, massive flooding, water in the basement and a myriad of other things. It continued with major challenges at my job relative to family balance. I was working way too much and traveling far more than I needed to be with a small child. I prayed for guidance and direction. I prayed daily--sometimes hourly.
I was at a NYE party last night and reflecting on this year. There are a lot of people that had bad years.
Here is the thing, when I compare my current bad times, I have not found anything that can hold a candle to the trials that I endured in 2008. There is not much on par with watching your husband die in front of you.
Time has given me the gift of perspective. In years past, I probably would have been focused on all of the bad things that happened, I would have been bidding farewell to an expensive and exhausting year.
This time, I am focused on all of our blessings.
1. I now work from home for a company that appreciates my work
2. Munchkin is much healthier and is growing a ton!
3. I have a house...something that I thought would be impossible after Robert died
4. My family is relatively healthy and I got to spend a ton of time with them this year
5. We got to take a week long vacation...just Nate and I...it was amazing!
Several years ago, I could not fathom being able to say many of these things. I am grateful. I am very very blessed.
Life is not perfect by any means, but it is good and we are happy. I still have days where I miss Robert dearly, but we have found hope and peace in our life. I have found a way to move forward and for the first time I see myself as so much more than a widow.
Showing posts with label grateful. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grateful. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Settling into a new routine...
Several months ago I took a new position. This now allows me to work from home. It was a VERY scary step for me. I left a decent paying job, for something a little unknown at the time. All I knew was that my old job was making me so miserable and invading into our family time so much that SOMETHING needed to give. After much prayer and asking God for guidance, I made the leap. I worked an extra 6 weeks at my old job to give them the opportunity to find a replacement.
I should not have waited so long! Now, I have the privilege of walking Munchkin to and from school everyday and I get the opportunity to visit with other parents whose jobs allow them the same privilege. This is an accommodation that I NEVER would have received at my old company. I knew in my heart that Munchkin wasn't getting enough sleep, we were out the door before 7 am every morning and we frequently didn't get home until after 6:30-and he was asleep by 7:30. We had nearly no time.
Another byproduct of working at home, is that when he is sick, I don't have to scramble at 6 am and beg my parents or siblings to split a day off with me. I knew this going in, but I didn't really realize how profound this was until recently.
This school year already we have had a bout of strep, a sinus infection and two asthma exacerbations...overall we are doing GREAT! Then last week we had full blown bronchitis.
Breathing treatments every 2-3 hours around the clock with several different meds to ensure that he could breathe...lots of whining and cuddling all night long because he plain didn't feel well. Last fall, I still would have had to drag myself out of the house and go to work after the first day or two and I would have had to have left him with my mom, dad or sister or brother. There was no way around it, I didn't have 75 vacation days a year to stay home every time he was sick.
This time it was different. I have the luxury of working when I can and being measured on the results of my work, not the amount of time that I am in my chair in the office.
When I was at the pediatrician, he asked me if I needed a note for work. It hit me, I no longer had to worry about whether I needed to file for FMLA. I didn't have to calculate how many hours I could be in the office and when to make it not count as a vacation day. I now have a boss that is compassionate and understanding and actually understands that I am much more productive when I am not having to worry about the number of hours I am in my seat.
I am beyond grateful to have that stress removed from our lives. So grateful, I cannot even find the words to express it. I am so grateful, that I think that I actually work harder knowing that they care about me and my family and that they have thus far shown me that with their actions. I really don't feel like I am being given lip service about family/life balance, I truly believe that this is where I am meant to be.
I should not have waited so long! Now, I have the privilege of walking Munchkin to and from school everyday and I get the opportunity to visit with other parents whose jobs allow them the same privilege. This is an accommodation that I NEVER would have received at my old company. I knew in my heart that Munchkin wasn't getting enough sleep, we were out the door before 7 am every morning and we frequently didn't get home until after 6:30-and he was asleep by 7:30. We had nearly no time.
Another byproduct of working at home, is that when he is sick, I don't have to scramble at 6 am and beg my parents or siblings to split a day off with me. I knew this going in, but I didn't really realize how profound this was until recently.
This school year already we have had a bout of strep, a sinus infection and two asthma exacerbations...overall we are doing GREAT! Then last week we had full blown bronchitis.
Breathing treatments every 2-3 hours around the clock with several different meds to ensure that he could breathe...lots of whining and cuddling all night long because he plain didn't feel well. Last fall, I still would have had to drag myself out of the house and go to work after the first day or two and I would have had to have left him with my mom, dad or sister or brother. There was no way around it, I didn't have 75 vacation days a year to stay home every time he was sick.
This time it was different. I have the luxury of working when I can and being measured on the results of my work, not the amount of time that I am in my chair in the office.
When I was at the pediatrician, he asked me if I needed a note for work. It hit me, I no longer had to worry about whether I needed to file for FMLA. I didn't have to calculate how many hours I could be in the office and when to make it not count as a vacation day. I now have a boss that is compassionate and understanding and actually understands that I am much more productive when I am not having to worry about the number of hours I am in my seat.
I am beyond grateful to have that stress removed from our lives. So grateful, I cannot even find the words to express it. I am so grateful, that I think that I actually work harder knowing that they care about me and my family and that they have thus far shown me that with their actions. I really don't feel like I am being given lip service about family/life balance, I truly believe that this is where I am meant to be.
Friday, November 1, 2013
The Perfect Leaf
Halloween for us kicks of the sprint through the end of the year. Life always goes more quickly than I would like, but now it kicks into warp speed!
This year is no different. I find myself looking around at all the things that need to get done and I start calculating when I can do them and dig in. I am ashamed to say that there are times that I plow through just to get done. It isn't how I would like things to work, but sometimes, there are only so many hours in a day and I need to be doing in order to keep us up and running on all cylinders!
However, in spite of that, I find little reminders to slow down.
Munchkin has been sick this week, so instead of trick or treating for hours, we did less than 10 houses of people we knew and then went and had dinner with my brother, his girlfriend, my sister and her husband. It was a ton of fun. Dinner was good and the company was even better. I felt contented to be surrounded by my siblings and for the first time, the tears didn't creep in to steal my joy. Not even when Munchkin carved his first pumpkin! It was nice to sit and have dinner and have Munchkin rough house with his uncles and run around squealing at hide and seek on a sugar high.
As Munchkin was rough housing with "guys" it was nice to just sit still for a few minutes!
Because Munchkin has food allergies, I have to check his candy to create a "safe pile". As I sorted-and he generously was handing candy out to the grown ups around him, I found a leaf. I looked at it quizzically and as I was about to toss it out--Munchkin said---Mommy can we keep it? It was on the sidewalk and it was little and perfect so I rescued it from the rain.
And you know what-it was a perfectly beautiful maple leaf.
So I kept it for him, and for me as a little reminder to slow down these next few weeks and look at everything around us!
I am so grateful for my little boy and all of the reminders and lessons that he brings be every step of the way!
This year is no different. I find myself looking around at all the things that need to get done and I start calculating when I can do them and dig in. I am ashamed to say that there are times that I plow through just to get done. It isn't how I would like things to work, but sometimes, there are only so many hours in a day and I need to be doing in order to keep us up and running on all cylinders!
However, in spite of that, I find little reminders to slow down.
Munchkin has been sick this week, so instead of trick or treating for hours, we did less than 10 houses of people we knew and then went and had dinner with my brother, his girlfriend, my sister and her husband. It was a ton of fun. Dinner was good and the company was even better. I felt contented to be surrounded by my siblings and for the first time, the tears didn't creep in to steal my joy. Not even when Munchkin carved his first pumpkin! It was nice to sit and have dinner and have Munchkin rough house with his uncles and run around squealing at hide and seek on a sugar high.
As Munchkin was rough housing with "guys" it was nice to just sit still for a few minutes!
Because Munchkin has food allergies, I have to check his candy to create a "safe pile". As I sorted-and he generously was handing candy out to the grown ups around him, I found a leaf. I looked at it quizzically and as I was about to toss it out--Munchkin said---Mommy can we keep it? It was on the sidewalk and it was little and perfect so I rescued it from the rain.
And you know what-it was a perfectly beautiful maple leaf.
So I kept it for him, and for me as a little reminder to slow down these next few weeks and look at everything around us!
I am so grateful for my little boy and all of the reminders and lessons that he brings be every step of the way!
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Last of summer
It seems like we are in a rush to squeeze in every last bit of summer that we can.
This weekend, we literally had 4 parties in 72 hours. Tons of time with family and friends.
We spent three hours at a park yesterday when I was done working. Then another few hours outside riding bikes and general frolicking.
Now that the pool is on very limited hours
Our basketball hoop installation is complete. Munchkin made a basket on his first shot! Today's agenda includes pool time, Taekwondo practice and quite possibly a bonfire tonight.
This summer has been awesome. A far cry from what I was expecting. See this post HERE
In short we have spent tons of time together and other than one quick business trip, we have been together every day. We have been to the beach more than I can count and done some pretty amazing things.
Most amazingly I think is that this summer turned out to be nothing like I dreaded.
As I sit here and reflect on all we were able to do, I am feeling so very blessed and so very lucky.
See once again, God has come through in our lives proving to me over and over that if I just give my worries to Him, then they work out. Everyday I am thankful for all that He has given us and all of the blessing he has put on my journey.
I have been given the gift of time, the gift of health (hey we only had three pediatrician visits all summer---that has to be a new record!). I am grateful.
We have had time to spend with family and time to be alone as our family unit. I cannot express my gratitude for these simple pleasures.
This weekend, we literally had 4 parties in 72 hours. Tons of time with family and friends.
We spent three hours at a park yesterday when I was done working. Then another few hours outside riding bikes and general frolicking.
Now that the pool is on very limited hours
Our basketball hoop installation is complete. Munchkin made a basket on his first shot! Today's agenda includes pool time, Taekwondo practice and quite possibly a bonfire tonight.
This summer has been awesome. A far cry from what I was expecting. See this post HERE
In short we have spent tons of time together and other than one quick business trip, we have been together every day. We have been to the beach more than I can count and done some pretty amazing things.
Most amazingly I think is that this summer turned out to be nothing like I dreaded.
As I sit here and reflect on all we were able to do, I am feeling so very blessed and so very lucky.
See once again, God has come through in our lives proving to me over and over that if I just give my worries to Him, then they work out. Everyday I am thankful for all that He has given us and all of the blessing he has put on my journey.
I have been given the gift of time, the gift of health (hey we only had three pediatrician visits all summer---that has to be a new record!). I am grateful.
We have had time to spend with family and time to be alone as our family unit. I cannot express my gratitude for these simple pleasures.
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