What a strange "lesson", huh?! Here I go- trying to put my life into words and hoping they will translate into some sort of meaningful sense to you.
It's Monday morning- barely up and running and I've already learned a life lesson- from my 3- year old, no less. For those of you who know Isabella, you will see the beauty in this all the more. She is a spunky girl with a strongwill and a big heart that gives me the patience I need to survive her strongwill. Get it?
We've been working with the whole potty-training concept for about 6 years now. Okay- since she's only 3 that's a teensy exaggeration but for some of you moms out there you understand how I feel. I joke that she could spell 'toilet' and yet she couldn't use one properly. She's finally chosen to quit using diapers and decided the potty will be just fine for her now. It's funny how something that consumes much of a mother's time and energy can be no big deal in a matter of weeks. Isabella sees life in black and white- you know, "all or nothing" kind of girl. So, she has totally gone "toilet" and wants to do the whole thing herself- which is okay by me, 98% of the time.
Here's where today's lesson comes in. Bella woke up in a happy mood (remember she's either hot or cold, happy or grumpy, you get this concept now...), and I asked her if she wanted to go potty before having breakfast. She ran to the bathroom and did everything by herself. I grabbed a pair of clean underware out of the basket of laundry-to-be-folded and told her to come get dressed. She saw me holding the undeware up and started jumping and shouting, "Yea...Hello Kitty underwares, Hello Kitty underwares...yea, yea, yea!" I smiled and told her to settle down so she could step into them. Once on, she did some more jumping and cheering. How can a Monday morning jump-start on a better note than that?!
I can't remember the last time I got excited putting on clean undeware (although some of my underware affect my days more or less than others- but that's more than you care to know). I do remember times my daughter, Teagan got excited about underware though- and to see Bella doing the same thing gives me unmistakeable, pure joy. That's what I'm talking about here.
Look at your own life~ there might be joy where you least expect it. Or maybe you need to see something for what it can be. To recognize joy in the everyday things in your life may be a new concept. It's one I've been on journey toward for about 4 years now. In fact on the first page of a journal I started keeping a month or so after my family's accident, I wrote about not needing books on grief support or dealing with trauma- but on finding joy. I'm learning it's not about being happy with things or circumstances- but it's a feeling...it's a situation that warms your heart for no big reason...it's a memory or a realization...it's a moment when you realize your efforts are paying off...it's letting all the other stuff that can bog you down in life slip away so that you can "see" the present moment- no matter how big or small it might be.
For me, joy manifested itself in the glee of my little girl stepping into a favorite pair of underware. Maybe I'll make t-shirts for Christmas gifts that say, "Joy can be undies." I'm sure you'd all want one of those. See post about nitty.gritty. tshirts if none of this makes sense. And in the meantime, I hope joy jumps up and down in your face today...just make sure you're looking for it.
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Scroll down to post on Nov. 12- made a little change- if you want to make sense of the tshirt remarks I wrote about today. Although I never guarantee that anything I blog about makes sense.
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