We Chose Joy

Our family was very much looking forward to the Memorial Day weekend. We had fun plans for each day of the weekend. Unfortunately, Friday night, Brendan came down with a fever. He also was crying that his mouth hurt. We hoped that he would go to bed and wake up feeling better. He wasn't any better. We took him to the doctor and found out he had hand, foot, mouth disease (not to be confused with hoof and mouth :) ). Unfortunately that meant that we were quarantined for the weekend. I was especially devastated because some friends of ours from Croatia were going to be at a barbecue and we were going to celebrate Suzi's birthday. I haven't hardly seen them since they got back to the states and they are leaving again in a month. I was really crushed.

I told the kids that we were going to have to stay home and cancel our weekend plans. Their initial reaction was to cry about it. But then I decided that this was an excellent opportunity for us all to learn something. We could choose to wallow in our change in plans, or we could embrace it and have a good weekend. I told the kids that we couldn't change Brendan's sickness, but we COULD decide how we were going to react to it. We could choose joy in the midst of our disappointment. We all agreed to do just that. And honestly, we had a wonderful weekend.

Saturday, the big kids played with the neighbor girls in the back yard with the slip n slide while Bill snuggled Brendan. Yesterday, I decided that Rori and I needed some special momma/daughter time. We went to a fancy outdoor mall that Rori had never been to. We went to Crazy 8, which I had never heard of, but apparently they are owned by Gymboree with the same quality, but more affordable. Rori was in HEAVEN looking at the clothes. I decided to buy her a few things since they were the same price as some of the tops I had just bought from Target the day before (those are going back). Then we went to Anna Shea's for chocolates and ice cream. She loved that they had couches and fireplace to eat at! Then we stopped at a few more stores and picked up some small trinkets :) I was smiling the whole time, watching her. She would try a hat or a purse on and pose in it, and then swish over to the mirror to check herself out. It was ridiculously adorable. When we got home, we discovered that Brendan was 100 times better so the neighbor girls came over again and they all enjoyed the sunshine, pool, sprinkler, and slip n slide. I got to work on some of the parts of my year end teacher gifts, which I was trying to figure out when I was going to be able to get to. Last night, Bill and I got to have an impromptu date night. Bill's mom came over to watch the kids so we could go to the movies.

 

Today was filled with more family time and smiles. I think what made the weekend so great was that we were all together. I felt like Bill and I got to enjoy quality time with each other. Even though he's home at a reasonable hour every day, sometimes I feel like we get caught up in taking care of the kids that we don't get to talk as much as we'd like. I also got to have great  one on ones with each of my kids--which is hard to come by as well. So, while we didn't get to choose the hand we were dealt, we did get to choose how we reacted to it. I am so incredibly proud of my family for their attitudes.