After last week's harrowing series of events, from Boston to west Texas and the nation's capital, I entered this past weekend with a sense of dread, wondering when something else horrible would pop up in the news. But thankfully, nothing more eventful happened than my birthday, which turned out to be wonderfully quiet, soothing, and family-focused. It helped that I just decided to finally tune out. With all of the distress of last week, I turned to those things that provide me the greatest emotional and physical nourishment, and I counted my blessings. I spent almost every minute with my husband and son on Saturday and Sunday. We watched movies together, did chores around the house, played games, went to the bookstore, hung out at the mall, and made time to sit and chat whenever we could. My little family and I had a pizza dinner on Friday night, steak and salad on Saturday, and Red Robin burgers on Sunday. And when my birthday dawned, I received loving phone calls from my siblings and their families, texts and messages from close friends, as well as Facebook wishes from faraway family, friends, and acquaintances. In contrast to last year when I had a rowdy, noisy party with friends and their little kids, I wanted this year's birthday to pass more sedately. (I think I am officially tired of frantically cleaning my house, only to have to deal with cleanup again after only a few hours of partying.)
My birthday marked the very beginning of a new year in my life, and I'm grateful that the last days of my previous year ended quietly and soulfully.
Here are some of the most wonderful things about my life right now: my family, in particular my heart-melting son and nephews. (And in my book, nothing beats hearing "Happy Birthday" sung to you by sweet child voices.)
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| The kiddo during a playful mood -- I love this beautiful smile. Still taken from a video. |
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| Daddy reading the excellent 1970s kids book, Harry the Dirty Dog, before bedtime |
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| My nephews #1 and #4, brothers wearing their Easter best |
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| Nephew #4 wearing the same onesie that my son wore about five years ago -- hand-me-downs rule! |
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| Nephew #3 and nephew #2, fraternal twin brothers who keep amazing me: they're barely 7 months old and not only are they tall and over 20 pounds each (which is unusual in our small-statured lineage), but they've also started crawling! |
xo, Gladys
P.S. Happy Earth Day! Why not celebrate by adding a green resolution to your new year's list?
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