January 21, 2010 – Decisions

Today I decided to have a wonderful day with my children.  No matter what.  Despite the fact that one has been sick for four days and the other may now be getting the bug, I will have a good day.  Regardless of the fact my husband worked late and would not be home for dinner, I will have a good day.   Nevermind that it’s been cold and rainy out, I will still have a good day.

And you know what?  If you deliberately make that choice and keep it in the forefront of your mind throughout day, it’s all very possible.  Much easier than you’d think, in fact.  (Well, except for that witching hour between 4-6…. things still get hairy then, but still… a conscious choice of positivity beats out the rest).

I think I’ll try it again tomorrow.

~K

January 20, 2010 – Ten dollars

I gave ten dollars to Haiti relief efforts yesterday.  

What does that really mean?   It means as I was doing my weekly grocery shopping and checking out, the clerk asked me if I’d like to donate to the Haiti relief efforts and I said yes and onto my bill, ten dollars was added.

I secretly wonder if it will even make it.    Or if it will get washed away in hidden fees and processing.  I feel bad that all I gave was ten dollars.  Maybe I should have given more…. I probably should have given more.  Can ten dollars even begin to touch or to help? 

Rather than focusing on that, I will think differently and I will ….

-  hope that those ten dollars provided ten gallons of clean water for the dehydrated mothers and fathers crying in the heat for their missing children.

-  pray that those ten dollars went to disease prevention for the little ones left behind in the rubble with nothing sanitary or preventative to keep them from becoming ill.

-  want those ten dollars to go towards rebuilding areas and providing families with a safe place to rest for at least a moment.

So, rather than worrying about the negative, instead of being skeptical about hidden fees or questioning percentages, I will rather,  pray for these people struggling and I will hope  for my ten dollars to reach them in a positive form.   And rather than wonder if it was enough, too little of a donation to be significant, I will know that it was ten dollars more than before I walked into my grocery store.  

I will hope and pray for these people.  I will be extra grateful for my home… it’s roof, our meals, a glass of clean water and a daily shower.   These everyday items will be acknowledged and appreciated.   And the next time I’m able, I’ll donate again.  This is what I can do.  This is the positivity even in the face of such crisis.

~K

January 19, 2010 – Keeping my Cup Half Full

I’m having a difficult time today with positivity.  I’ve got a sick child, I’ve been stuck inside all day and have been worried about my baby.

Having said that, today is just a challenge, and just what this whole 365 is about, changing perspective, noticing what is good more than focusing on what is not good.

I’m thankful that tomorrow I will take her to a pediatrician who will take care of us both.   And I’m thankful that this is a temporary virus and not a major life challenge.  

So many parents are facing so much worse than this little tummy bug that’s got me all in shambles.  The positivity of today is that I’m nowhere near there.  Tonight I will pray for them first… for their peace of mind and for their babies.  Then I will pray for mine and be grateful for what it isn’t, rather than negatively focusing on what it is.

~K

January 18, 2010- He Had A Dream…

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.   We enjoyed a family day, appreciated the three day weekend and relished in extra time together playing, loving, laughing….

But today did not go by without many thoughts as to why we were enjoying the long weekend.   It started with my five year old waking me early to remind me of the significance of today, pointing out Dr. King’s picture in one of her storybooks.   We were celebrating  today and remembering.  We were acknowledging the amazing courage of a man, a man who became a leader with a positive vision backed with a message of peace and non violence.  

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream.   Because of his dream, our world is changed.   Because of his dream, my kindergartener sits with her best friend, a beautiful brown skinned child, each day in class and at lunch.  I am so thankful for his dream and for his actions.  Because of what he stood for, my children will never understand why it seemed unthinkable for a man named Barack Obama to become the President of the United States or why is was breathtaking to see it actually happen.   Courtesy of Dr. King, each generation is bred with more and more individuals who truly practice judging others based only upon the quality of their character and not upon the color of their skin.  

Thank you,  Dr. King.  Because of your dreams, I am a better person, raising my children to be better people living in a better world.

~K

January 17, 2010 – Picture Perfect

This is where I spent the day…. it’s kind of hard not to be appreciative when surrounded by all of this.  It absolutely rejuvenates my soul, eases my mind and provides me with an abundance of gratitude…..

 

 

 

So many, many things to be grateful for.   What an easy way to appreciate beauty and relish in positivity.  

~K

January 16, 2010 – A Spoonful of Sugar…

…helps the medicine go down, the medicine go dooowwwn, medicine go down!

Something like that, anyway.  Today, we made the dreaded trek to the pediatricians office for the H1N1 vaccine.  While the process is quick and really relatively painless, the anxiety in my kids, the waiting in the office, the scheduling inconvenient in the middle of  long weekend and the holding down of my kids while they scream is purely awful.

The alternative, however,  is a hospitalized, feverish, very ill child… in a good scenario.   While every person has the right to decide whether or not this vaccine and any vaccine for that matter, is for them and for their children, I am so grateful that we live in a country where if we choose to vaccinate, the vaccines are plentiful.   A society where most disease is preventable.   A culture where we have clean, modern offices to take our children to receive these medical services.

Thinking of all this makes me also very painfully aware and compelled to acknowledge that not all children in this country have the same basic rights as mine did today.   While this isn’t the platform for that debate, it does stir up some questioning.  To me, it just doesn’t make basic sense, not any way you cut it or justify it.  But….

what this blog, IS about, is a special place for me to acknowledge gratitude and to embrace gratefulness .   Today, I am grateful for our vaccines, for clean clinics, for disease prevention… and most of all, for two healthy beautiful children, sleeping soundly with their band-aids the only evidence of our afternoon.  

Oh, that, and the chocolate mustaches that colored each of their little faces after we bribed them with ice cream cones for good behavior during flu shots!  I’m thankful for the ice cream too.  :)

~K

January 15, 2010 – It’s about time!

Tonight is ‘date night’.   The last time we had ‘date night’ was 2004.  Really.  Years overdue.   We’re not doing anything special, just going to enjoy an evening of normal activities without children, or rather, just with us, while my dear friend stays with our children.   

So, today, I’m grateful for this allotted time.  And I have to get ready.  So I can’t write anymore.  :)

~K