Lucky girl

I was all set to post a long-winded "poor me" post last night about how long of a week I had, how crazy and exhausting all 3 boys were, how tired I am after a week-long house cleaning frenzy to prepare for the appraisal (which, by the way, we won't know the results of until early next week). So I typed out this huge post and I just couldn't bring myself to push the post button. It just sounded so whiny, and I have really, really come to detest whining after hearing it from my 4-year-old drama king so often.

What do I really have to whine about, anyway? I have 3 healthy, happy children, an awesome husband with a good, stable job. Even all this tension about whether our house has lost too much value to have a workable refinance is pretty small potatoes in the entire scheme of things. It makes me think of what my next door neighbor Tom says when I'm in my front yard with the boys and he's puttering in his front yard ... "You are a lucky girl, Kathy". He's said it just that way several times. Lucky? I've puzzled over his choice of words. I don't really think of myself as being lucky. When I think of my state in life, I gravitate towards words like tired, harried, crazy, busy. On a deeper level, I know everything I have is a gift from God, and I am grateful for it, but on a day-to-day level I rarely think of myself as blessed or lucky.

But I think my neighbor is on to something. Granted, I will be the first to tell you that babies, children, and preschoolers are NOT all sunshine and kisses, and we have had and will continue to have plenty of difficult times, but certainly nothing worth writing a long, whiny post about :). If it ever seems like I tend to post mostly happy things here, you might be right --- but only because posting happy things makes me happy and seems to give more substance to the happiness I feel (and many times posting something happy when I'm feeling crummy helps snap me out of my bad mood, which is good for everyone over here!). And, on the flip side, posting whiny or negative posts tends to give those feelings more substance and power, which is good for no one over here. So, just know that there are a bazillion crazy, disgusting, difficult, frustrating, maddening things that happen in our household on a day-to-day basis, but I will do my best to just share the especially amusing or interesting tidbits so as to preserve my own sanity and help remind myself that I really am a lucky girl.