Writing About My Day on July 13, 2023
You gotta write when the inspiration hits, right? Well, today it is bubbling over; all of the thoughts in my head are forming words and sentences and complete thoughts in a way that I want to let it out!
“Are those rainin’ ‘jamas?” My 3-year-old Elesha asks me as I am putting her third outfit on for the day. It is early afternoon. We have had a day already. We came in all rained on. Soon after putting baby straight to bed for his nap, I took my shirt off, leaving my undershirt on. I changed my pants into pajama pants and put my fuzzy robe on. It is mid-July, but being soaked in the rain and coming into the air conditioned house made me shiver.
So then, Elesha comes out with just a shirt on, asking me if I can help her get it off and find more clothes. Many times, she picks out pajamas when I tell her to find clothes. I usually tell her, “No, that’s pajamas.” This time, I picked pajamas! Why not? I help her get dressed, and she notices that it is pajamas. I tell her that it’s ok to wear pajamas since it’s a rainy day… Well, I get it anyway! She was content with my short explanation. She touched my soft robe as she held onto me, stepping into her pants. She asked her cute little question. "Are those rainin' 'jamas?" I like it! Rainin’ ‘jamas. Yes, they’re rainin’ ‘jamas!
I know that most people can’t fathom what it must be like to care for eight children. So, I want to give a synopsis of half of my day today.
To tell how my Thursday plans came about, I’ll start with yesterday. I was on my online business class through Zoom. The WIC office calls, reminding me of my 9:15 appointment in the morning. I say okay, hang up the phone, and wonder what I am going to do with all my kids to take my baby to that appointment. Don’t know. Save the thought for another time. Of course, I had not remembered the appointment! They are set months in advance. So now, the appointment has come upon me. I laugh at my thought process.
Back to my zoom class. I get another call reminding me of a HIPPY preschool program appointment to get Elesha tested at 2pm. I get ANOTHER call reminding me of the kids’ counseling appointment Friday at 12:30.
Okay, now I am getting my mind to straighten out these tasks. It went something like this:
Today at 2, HIPPY. Also whenever the heck my mom will get here, I can take Zechariah to the walk-in pediatrician (to see about his big toe that he squished and is now showing signs of infection). Church tonight and still have to pick up some things beforehand. Tomorrow, 9:15 and 12:30.
Not sure if YOU have caught it yet.
Okay, so today is Thursday! I woke up, laid in bed reading psalms, paced back and forth praying as my coffee was making, drank coffee, ate cookies and cereal with baby, checked my phone, etc. Time was slipping by too quickly. I instructed the kids to get ready. I try to give myself 30 minutes of driving time every time I go just to the next city over. It takes 10 minutes to get to the edge of the city of Dothan from where I live. But getting kids in and out of the car is another story. And getting in the car at the set time is another story! So here I go to my room to begin getting ready. Oops, looks like I have 10 minutes left, and I am still in pajamas! Quick version today. My hair goes up in a clip. My make up bag goes with me. I sound like a parrot telling kids what to do to get ready.
I think I must be quite a sight getting eight kids and myself out of the house to go somewhere—anywhere! Maybe my brain works in a special way because watching myself in third person, I am whirling through the house, scooping up items, saying short lists over and over, and end up going out the door with an arm load of bags, cups, snacks, extra clothes, diapers, shoes, keys, books….? Yes, what a sight I must be. With my thirteenth arm, I lock the door and say a silent thank you to guardian angels that my toddlers are not in the street by the time I grabbed those arm loads.
We made it on time to the 9:15! However, we stood in the check-in line long enough to be late. But no one cares. Really. If you’re a person who stresses over these things, take my advice: Do your best to be on time, but don’t stress making someone wait who is only going to make you wait! Haha! No one noticed or cared!
Just a note, I had asked one person if I could drop off my older kids to make this appointment a little easier. She had plans. I thought about trying to find someone else, but those thoughts didn’t go very far. I figured my kids were just going to have to behave. And they did! As is the norm, those employees just bragged and bragged on my kids’ behavior, which is SO NICE to hear since I feel like I am constantly getting onto them. It’s like a sigh of relief that my work is paying off! Oh, yeah, and someone recognized us as we arrived and said she remembered us from Waffle House one day. She was amazed at my family and said I was doing a good job!
We left that place. I figured we had until 12:30 to get to the next appointment, so we could ride over to the grocery store, pick out lunchables, and go to the park. That is what we did. I put my make-up on in the parking lot before going in. It was a decent experience at the grocery store. I just have to stay on the kids about staying to one side so people can get by and not being rowdy whatsoever. Luckily, I have EBT still because our lunches and some fruit were over $100!! Three of us picked out sushi which were around $11 each. Those lunchables can be pricey, too. Of course, the produce was expensive, and I had gotten some extra drinks for the house.
We went on to the park. I have a few pictures of us at the picnic tables. I, of course, got sauce on my white pants. I took a picture of that, too, because I want to make a point of how little I care about getting something on my pants. That would be 0%. No one cares. In fact, it is to be expected. After we ate, the kids all played on the playground. They did courses. Little ones challenged themselves with climbing ladders, etc. It was as hot and humid as the devil’s butt crack, as they say. The kids were wearing out. We still had 30 more minutes to waste.
Elesha had a moment of cheering for herself after climbing a tall ladder. It got my wheels turning about writing ideas. I loved how she cheered for herself! I cheered for her, too! It gave me ideas for the book I am considering writing. I think I will call it, Different Perspective Parenting. I want to express the idea of empowering your children AND celebrating the wins!
We began to get cloud coverage and that wonderful breeze that comes before a storm. Oh, it is so lovely! It began to sprinkle. I knew what was coming. I told the kids to go ahead and grab their drinks and take them to the van. By the time they listened, the sprinkles turned to puddles falling from the sky! It was that kind of rain where you see the wind picking up handfuls of water and throwing it to the side! We sat in the van for a few minutes. It also started lightning. It was a bit of a rush getting baby and grabbing up all trash and drinks that the kids neglected to grab. So, I was just sitting there smiling like, “Whew, we made it, and that was fun! And it felt kind of good to be cooled down!”
One of the kids whined, “Can we go now?” I backed up and went on to the next place. We arrived at 12:20. So we snacked on the fruit! I had picked out these cherries that were advertised on the bag as being nature’s candy. They’re called Rainier Cherries, how appropriate. I also had gotten some cherry plums, which reminded me of childhood! My brother and I would get off the school bus, cross the road to our own driveway because the bus driver required us to—for liability purposes, I’m sure. After the bus passed, we went on back across the street and picked those red and yellow cherry plums. They were so delicious! Probably more so because they were not ours. They were DISCOVERED by us, so that must have made them twice as tasty!!
It got to be 12:30, still raining pretty good. We put the fruit snacks to the side and braved the rain to go on in the counseling office. Again, I must be a sight with arms loaded down—baby, baby bag, baby shoes, drinks, purse, etc.! We (especially me) were very wet! I smiled at the receptionist, mostly laughing at myself.
After a few minutes, the receptionist, looking at her computer, said, “Oh, she’s got you down for tomorrow.” Then it hit me! This is Thursday. Counseling is Friday. I know it is Thursday. I was already asking my family to keep my younger ones so I could maybe take my older kids to Water World on half price Thursday. But I already had it mapped out in my brain that I had two places to be today. Duh! She checked with the counselor to see if there might be an opening anyway. Nope. I apologized and laughed at myself! I HAD announced to everyone this week that my days are running together! I wasn’t lying!
That’s the kind of thing that you just say, “Oh, well,” and go on about your business!
I had thought this morning as I was getting ready quickly of making a cute-silly phrase picture to post on Facebook saying that you know it is going to be a lucky day when you find matching socks! Ha! The thought came to me when pulling out two of the same kind of gray socks that I hadn’t seen in a while! I thought, what luck! I slipped them on and saw that the words on the socks were two different colors! Haha! Maybe almost sort of a match. So silly. I laugh at myself and my thought process all the time. Life is just humorous. If you can’t see it, you need to look up more often! Not sure if anyone else calls it a lucky day when you get caught in the rain. I’m not sure what I would think is so lucky about it, either. But I sure... am... blessed.
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