This morning I woke at 7 am, took the beast out for her morning constitutional (watching the bunnies in the neighbor's back yard while she circled looking for just the right spot to do her business).I have a busy day on tap, I have to catch up on my Christmas cookies as today is the last baking day. (My trays have to be done by tomorrow morning when the husband goes to work.) I have three more types of cookies to make and chocolate mice. As I started prepping for my first batch of cookies, I decided a cup of Chai tea was in order. I started my tea kettle, and pulled out the small sauce pan that I warm my milk and honey in. I went to the fridge and lo and behold, the condiments must have had a wicked thirst. My entire water jug, save for maybe 3/4 of an inch at the very bottom, was emptied into the door and veggie bin. Luckily, I had no cookie dough chilling in the veggie bin (it was actually as empty as my water jug) It may have been a very different story but after cleaning up my mess for over an hour, I realized something about myself.
It's not really a *new* something, I've noticed it before, but I don't think much about my demeanor until I am faced with adversity. Now granted, in the big view of life, a wet fridge isn't much of an adversity. Faced with a full baking schedule, a grumpy three year old that needs tended to and Christmas looming large, it becomes one if you let it. I didn't let it. With my little grump waking up and growling at me, I so wanted to! Instead, I just growled back and told him why I was *so grumpy* and a funny thing happened, we ended up laughing about it and neither one of us stayed grumpy. I'm not one to dwell in misfortune, let's face it, having to clean your refrigerator when you didn't have that on your to do list for the day is a bit of a nuisance and misfortune (the time allotment to clean the fridge just throws things off). To me it really was more of a nuisance. In reality, it did need to be cleaned, although I had planned on doing it after I was done with all my holiday baking. (Weird, I found a three year old does tend to get jelly everywhere on the inside of a fridge or maybe it was my 40 year old husband, either way it needed to be done!) But the good part about being me, is I don't tend to stress, the big stuff or the small stuff. I do stress when everything big comes at me at once (case in point, when my dad was ill and I had just moved to Pennsylvania from Ohio to manage a record store. I felt helpless, like I couldn't do anything) but I have a unique way of relaxing in the midst of chaos. I regain my center and remember what is important. I know, this is healthy behavior, but most of the people I have been around must not be healthy because this same event would have brought many a woman to tears and ruined their day. I laughed, I cursed the condiments in their thirst and I sopped up wayward water. Even better, I taught my little guy that it's okay to be grumpy but it's even better to brush it off, put your head down(as in getting to work) and carry on. And so today, I am very happy to be me.
2 comments:
I hear ya. But you know...things always tend to go that way. You are in relax mode and then everything big hits you at once. I'm usually very chill but like you get grumpy when the jobs grow and get snappy. I think you did a great thing by telling the little guy about it. That way he knows you're human, that it's ok to go through things like that, and what kinds of stuff you have to go through so he's not so expectant. I used to tell my small students if I wasn't feeling good, or if something was making me down or stressed and they would always respond in very sweet, sympathetic ways. Being honest when you're not yourself does ease the stress;)
You actually plan to clean your fridge? I am so impressed! I clean it only when disaster strikes! I sympathise about the mystery jam-spreader - I gave up long ago and started referring to my hubby and daughter as 'my kids', since they both demand equal attention. But I wouldn't give it up for anything... Happy Christmas! Best Wishes to your family for a great New Year!
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