A Day in the Life

I thought about saying, "I don't know where the time goes," but I know exactly where it goes.

5am: Jay's alarm goes off. He gets up and gets ready and out the door, dropping a kiss on my head and sometimes asking me to turn on the light.

6am: My alarm goes off. Sometimes I get up. There's getting-ready things to be done. Kids to be dressed. Sometimes, Hayden comes in my room between the alarms and hops into bed saying, "Can I sleep with you for a minute?" and I've yet to find a good reason to say no.

Get ready. Feed the dogs. Feed the kids. Let the dogs out. Get the things packed for the day. Find the keys. Find the shoes. Tie the shoes. "No mommy, the zebra shoes. I DO IT. Mommy help."

7am: In the car. Adjust the temperature 11 times. Drive in traffic. House-highway-interstate-highway-three turns and a right. Daycare. Out of the car, in the door, grab the booster seat, bring the extra clothes for she-who-forgets-to-potty. Grab a tissue because "momma I got the snots". Down the hall. "I open the door!" drop off with kisses or sometimes sneak out like a ninja. Sign in. Down the hall. Sign in. Three extra hugs and kisses for Ellie, Braxton and Savannah, because I've yet to find a good reason to say no. "Have a great day, be a listener, be a good friend". Out the door.

8am: In the car. Back roads-back roads-highway-highway. Always traffic because people don't know how to merge. Exit 5D. Left, left, left. Park.

8:30: My day "begins".

Emails, phone calls, letters, lists. Meeting. Lists. Check off lists. A new idea. Remember to finish the old idea. Lunch or gym or Netflix? Stop suddenly to admire the landscaping of this beautiful place, and to remember why I love my job every day. Compare that to why I hated my job every day. Winner every time.

5pm: In the car. Two rights-highway-highway-interstate-merge. Less traffic than this morning. Right-left-right-right-left-left. Park. Unload all the things that make my car a mess.

In the door. "Mommy you got something for me?" "MOMMY'S HOME" with two pint-sized Rogers and two four-legged circuses barreling towards me at the door. Kiss on the head and how was your day?

At 5:30 my evening "begins".

Dinner dishes laundry tea party cars bath time story time sing my songs momma, do the Salem song bed time for one. News cartoons Jeopardy clean the bathroom what are you taking for lunch tomorrow? Stop and realize the dishes can wait. One more story. Ten minutes of peace with my husband before Hayden realizes he needs help with the toothpaste. Story. Sing me the Salem song. Hugs kisses Eskimos butterflies can you sleep with me for a minute?

8:30: Do I finally get to have adult conversation? I do! While I fold and wash and scrub, and pet and scratch the furry one with his tail thumping on the floor. Leave the phones in my purse. Talk about which house we'd pick on "Buying Alaska" or why I would never want to hunt a moose. What kind of gun is that?

Shower lotion hair dryer moisturizer when did I change these sheets? Lock the doors. Set the alarms. Barricade the steps so no more shoes get chewed up.

Spent my day as wife mom Assistant Dean of Admissions. But now I'm just Jessica, Jess, the girl he met in middle school. He's silly and makes me laugh. Dogs are barking because there's a noise outside. Turn the fan up, it's hot. Close my eyes. Tomorrow is a new day.

It's busy, it's messy, it's anything but perfect. It's never the same day twice. It's flawed it's loud it's chaos. But it's mine.

Hmm

I miss my dad. Today I just wanted to call and talk to him and this is when it sucks. Not birthdays or holidays but just regular Wednesdays when I want to talk about sports and traffic and the world. 

Thoughts

Hayden, on Easter: "I think Jesus became invisible. That's how he went up to heaven when they moved that stone." 

Sugarland

"I don't want to, if you don't want to..."

Sugarland came on as I pulled into work today. Took me back to our first concert, Kenny Chesney and Sugarland in 2007. Before he left for his second deployment, his first to Afghanistan. Before Hayden, before fifteen months of agony, before Dave died. Some days, I'd give anything to be back there. Before PTSD. Before two kids. Before the sadness. 

But we can't do that. So we pick up and carry our memories with us. 

Today

Our life is admittedly crazy. Two kids. Three dogs. Two full time jobs between two full time parents. We are busy. We run around and fall into bed exhausted at the end of the day. We wake up bleary eyed, stumbling to the bathroom or downstairs to quiet a barking dog. And we chose all of it. 

But every once in awhile, I get a rare break from crazy. Jay works Sunday now with his switch to first shift, so he's out the door at 5am. Hayden climbs into my bed around 6 and asks when we can get up. Today, Lila is sleeping in. The dogs have been fed and are outside. So Hayden and I are in the bed watching Frozen. Again. Because it makes is both happy. He's pretty easy to please. And I'm grateful for a little time with my oldest baby, who is strangely not a baby anymore. 

Yet. Another. Snow day.

Well I'm about done with winter. Yesterday we had an event on campus and right at noon we walked out to sleet, freezing rain, and everything else you find in a wintry mix. Miserable and cold. The drive home was actually fine. But I made the mistake of waiting until after dark to drive my mom home. 

We left my house around 8.  We came up on a car with his hazards on near a bridge. As we got closer, the bridge looked like an intense game of Frogger. Eleven cars wrecked on a bridge about twice the size of my driveway. Since this was only about a mile from my house, I turned right back around. 

I woke up at 5 and kept checking and checking to see if Salem would be closed. Finally they called a two hour delay. I looked outside and saw the sheet of ice on my driveway, and my neighborhood and decided it was not worth risking the drive. Luckily we had power this time. 

When the roads melted and dried after lunch, we headed out to Target to pick up Frozen (ironically). Dinner was ready in the crock pot when we all got home so we filled our bellies and watched Ana and Elsa save the world. Lila was under the weather Sunday and Monday so it was nice to spend a quiet day with her. And her snuggles! 

Tomorrow is supposed to be near 60.  Get it together North Carolina.  

Snowmageddon: Part 2

So we packed a few bags and headed to Eric's. The kids were so excited to see their cousins! They played and wrestled and sounded like a herd of elephants, but they had a blast! Ice cream and popcorn and movies and bunk bed? Heaven! 

Although, Lila is only a good sleeper in her own bed. Not anywhere else. Which made for a super long night sharing a futon with her. But we were warm! 

We got up and hung out a bit before heading back to our house. Jay had stayed with the dogs in our freezing cold house and needed rescuing! We went home and took him out to lunch, making plans to save our freezer food. After Mexican food, we picked up 5 bags of ice. 

We pulled into the driveway and I saw our porch light on! Power! I ran inside to start the washer and dishwasher, bid adieu to the dogs and headed to my mom's with the ice we no longer needed. Victory! 

Her house was freezing so we saved her food and then packed up to come here. It was so nice to see my city returning to civilization! Stop lights and working railroad arms and power to gas stations, oh my! 

We were lucky to escape with just two days of mild inconveniences. Back to life as normal!