my previous life

In a former life, I may have made fun of people who still had their Christmas lights up in late January.  Not only are ours still hanging on the house, I haven't even gone to the effort of turning the timer off, so they still flip on every night.  I somehow justify my laziness with the excuse that hendrix loves them.....and really they are so pretty!

I also may have been a tad bit hard on people who seem to never get anywhere on time.  I used to be the kind of person that would arrive 10 minutes early to any and every event, thus it is interesting that I seem to struggle with getting places promptly these days.....unless I budget an extra 25 minutes of 'just in case' time, I usually am delayed by a diaper change, a toddler tantrum, a lost shoe, or a starving infant.  I generally console myself with the notion that 'at least we made it!'

And since I am confessing, I should probably admit that I also previously cast judgment on people who go places and completely forget about their babies.....well, that was before I left mine sitting in her carrier in the parking lot at school after loading up the boys.  That terrifying and humbling ordeal has really challenged me to have a little more compassion, to never judge or even pretend to know what another person's shoes are really like, and to go out of my way to reach out and encourage other moms because, quite frankly, sometimes we use up all the energy we have on the little people in our lives.

I used to pride myself on being organized and put together - and now I feel like the only one who consistently gets and stays put together is my three-month old; and that is only because for now she is too young to strip off parts of her outfit and lose them or to have opinions about crazy clothing combinations (yes, hendrix wore bright blue sneakers with his brown cordouroy pants this afternoon......).

So today, i will embrace my fat lip (thanks for snuggling with me this morning hendrix), my blistered tongue (because my tired bones were so eager to slurp my hot coffee) and my slightly greasy messy ponytail (regular showers? I wish!) and take a moment to be thankful for the 'anaconda squeeze' hugs and chubby cheeked baby giggles that were also not a part of my former life.  They make me proud, and thankful.  I wouldn't trade this life for that one in a million years!