Dear Children, I love that every day when I am standing out in the heat sweating my guts out waiting for you, as soon as you see me you run to me and give me a big hug in front of all the other kids. Worth every drop of sweat. Dear Protruding Discs, there's nothing like waking up to a debilitating pain in your neck and head, needing to pee for like four hours and not being able to get up. (yes, I held it)And trying to make the kids take care of me while locked in our rooms until 4pm. My sweet little babes did their best. It took lots of motrin, excedrin, hot packs on my face, cold packs on my neck and laying in bed in agony all day before I could even sit up. Not knowing when or where you are going to strike is very unnerving to me. Dear Kidney Stones, really bad week for you to check in. Seriously. Dear B&D, thanks for having us over on Labor Day, for not kicking us out when the kids got a little crazy, for feeding us, spending your time on some of my problems, treating us to a nice swim, being so kind and loving to my children, and secretly filling my gas tank(which was empty)apparently you know nothing about that. But I do. I'm sure we wore you out, but I love you for still loving me. How do you repay that? Dear Avary, you were so brave at the dentist during a root canal and crowns for your broken tooth even though you were very scared. You were zonked out and sad and in pain all day. I wanted to cry for you, it breaks my heart to see you hurting. You said "sometimes I drink fast and sometimes I drink slow" and then cried because you were so concerned about it. I can't wait until you are happy again. Dear Kade, I realized that you really do love me unconditionally when I was singing to you at bedtime and you said "mom, you have a beautiful singing voice and anyone who says you don't is just mean" Haha. I hope you never take off your love goggles for me. You were also very brave at the dentist, especially since you have a stuffy nose. And you lost a tooth this week, maybe tonight the tooth fairy will remember to come. Dear Toilet, sometimes the handle sticks. Mix that with little kids can equal disaster. Disaster means it overflowed. I almost gave up on life right then and there it was such a hard day. But now we know the new flooring is watertight. Dear Family Resource center, who even knew you existed? I found all sorts of little bits of knowledge on how to help my kids through this tough time. Dear Briana, I am thinking of you and your family today on your birthday. I love you. Dear Sleep, I really need you. Dear Self, some days or weeks are really hard, like this one. I feel like stress is making my body self destruct and I am so sad. But when I am saying my prayers, through my pleas, I recognize and feel how truly blessed I am. And I am so grateful.
