The Funny Thing About Family

Yesterday was one of those days.  I hadn't slept well in way too long.  Nora was (and is still) sick with a cold.  All three kids were off on what they've been eating lately which tends to add more animal-ness and sass to their behavior.  Driving to the field trip was not my favorite.  There was some complaining about said field trip in a not so kind way (FYI dear children, you will not love every field trip or everything we do while homeschooling!  There are three of you to school and you all have different interests and learning styles.  It is okay, everything is not always fantastic.  Some things are just things. That is life!) Once on the field trip things were mostly good (shockingly everyone really enjoyed the field trip, even the big complainer).  Although Nora's constant need for me to carry her on our hike (which she kindly requested by falling to the ground and screaming that she couldn't walk) got a little old.  Coming home after the field trip (and from being gone for 4 days) and finding a dead mouse in our toilet AND that a mouse had gotten to my chocolate (aka my cure for everything) was really way too much for me to handle.  Also, here's a fun math problem- when three children have been away doing happy and fun things and then they come home and are asked to bring their suitcases up to their room how many will complain?  ZERO.  NONE, is of course the correct answer.  No one would ever complain about such a simple task.  But that is not what happened in my house. One of three children complained heavily about this simple request and one of three is flat out the wrong answer.

As I drove to the store to buy more chocolate, I tried really hard to figure out how to get out of this horrible day.  I came home and set up mouse traps and then I hid from my children and called Ryan.  I told him about the day and explained to him why he should feel bad for me (which he thankfully did to the correct level).

Later when we were all together eating dinner, in between Nora climbing and singing on me as I ate, and Jackson and Grace trying to talk over each other about a show they watched at Grandma's house, a fly randomly few by my head.  Then for some reason I said out loud, oh look there goes a fly.  Somehow the saying that out loud and the fact that a fly was joining us for dinner all suddenly seemed hilarious.  Actually suddenly my whole life seemed hilarious.  I couldn't stop laughing the whole the rest of dinner.

After dinner the five of us played cards by the fire.  Then while Ryan put Nora to bed Grace, Jackson and I- without talking about it- all pulled out knitting and sat there knitting quietly together.  And as I sat there with my needles and yarn I realized that throughout the entire day I had been trying to avoid my family (and for good reason) but ironically, in the end, they were actually what fixed the whole day for me.   They made it better.

So that, I guess, that is the funny thing about family.