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Thoughts For Thursday: A Small Thing Creates A Great (But Unspectacular) Day

October 6, 2011 · 33 comments

in Life, Thoughts For Thursday

My great day started with an email message that came to my cell phone.  I didn’t win a lottery, I didn’t get a raise. What I did get was… a night off!

Three times a week, my youngest son has travel soccer practice in the evening.  I also have 2 other kids, one who plays soccer and one who plays volleyball.  Basically, every single night is filled with me driving car pools and attending one sporting event or another.   Quite often, I attend one soccer game, and then hop in the car to watch an evening volleyball game.  I am not complaining, I love my life and I love watching my kids play.  It is just a busy time of year right now.

Yesterday the sun was shining, the leaves were changing, and the temperature was a perfect 75 degrees.  I was headed out to lunch when I heard the email alert on my phone.  I somehow managed to shade the phone screen from the ridiculous amount of glare that blocks my view when I am outside, and I read that my son’s travel soccer practice was cancelled. I was thrilled!  The planets aligned and we had absolutely zero commitments for the night.

So, after I picked up my son from school, I executed the plan that had been formulating in my head since I read the email:  I ran to the market, bought enough food to feed three starving teenagers (and more), and got cooking! I was so excited to be preparing a big dinner that I almost put on a dress, pearls, and heels so I could be a proper wife and mother!

My older two came home from their practices and were thrilled to smell the chicken and potatoes cooking.  After they washed up, they all helped get the food on the table, and we sat down to a 45 minute long meal.  IT WAS THE BEST.

I know a home made dinner may not sound very exciting to you, but our family life has been so crazy that having hours worth of down time was like a little gift.  Even though I cooked for 70 minutes and had to shop to get the ingredients, it was well worth all the effort.

So, when life does get a little crazy, remember how special something as little as a meal can be.  Take advantage of the gift of time and do something fun, instead of choosing to collapse on the couch.   It can be so easy to just get wrapped up in life that we don’t always get a chance to step back, take a breath, and appreciate the little things in life that we have right in front of us.

 

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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

Niki October 6, 2011 at 6:54 am

Sounds like a wonderful night. It really is rare thing to have one night free when you have children who are involved, especially with traveling sports teams. Glad you got to enjoy it.

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Kris October 6, 2011 at 8:31 am

It did rejuvenate me, and was just a really nice time. (Although the dishes were endless!)

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Moneycone October 6, 2011 at 7:02 am

That is good use of free time! Glad both you and your family enjoyed it!

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Kris October 6, 2011 at 8:30 am

I just love these little moments in life MC. I guess if life was always simple and time was an endless commodity, these things might not mean as much.

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The Biz of Life October 6, 2011 at 8:24 am

I know what a big deal it is for my wife when I make dinner for wife and relieve her of that burden.

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Kris October 6, 2011 at 8:29 am

Oh my gosh, that makes it even better Biz. I don’t care if the meal is grilled cheese and soup. If I can get a break from making dinner, I am happy as a clam. Good point.

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Money Reasons October 6, 2011 at 12:07 pm

We look forward to those types of days too! It seems like either my wife or I are always running, running, running…

It’s was like a mini-vacation huh 🙂

Sadly, I know someday I’ll miss these times…

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Kris October 7, 2011 at 8:21 am

I know I will totally miss this phase of life. I am already sad about my son’s “final” soccer season coming to a close in a couple of weeks. Senior year is tough on a parent.

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retirebyforty October 6, 2011 at 4:12 pm

That’s a great break from the routine. Our routine is cooking at home and it’s not that much fun for us right now. One of us hang out with the baby and the other one cook. If we’re lucky, we’ll have dinner by 7:30pm. 🙂
We’ll get to go out on Saturday though! Baby has a sitter!

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Kris October 7, 2011 at 8:22 am

I totally remember stressing about cooking dinner when the kids were babies. I was so grateful for the little bouncy seat. My youngest loved it, and he could just sit there while I moved around the kitchen.

It is good you have a night out. We did not do that enough.

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Jenna, Adaptu Community Manager October 6, 2011 at 6:19 pm

Glad you were able to have some quality time with your family. Love when things work out like that.

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Kris October 7, 2011 at 8:23 am

Unexpected pleasant surprises are a great thing!!

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First Gen American October 7, 2011 at 3:35 am

We had a nice dinner last night too. I had a friend in town and I always feel like cooking when there’s company over. Maybe it’s just easier because there’s one extra adult to help play with the kids or help prep the meal. Sometimes when work is stressful I don’t even feel like cooking a real meal even if the time is technically there.

I’m glad you did a free evening. Hopefully the whole year isn’t that hectic. Sometimes I think parents are a little too nuts with sports and needing to fill up every second of a kid’s day and weekend. It’s fine if the kids enjoy it but my husband remembers dreading practices growing up. My son can’t get enough of baseball, so I think I’ll be one of those moms someday.

My friend Mike said that’s why he’s such a good swimmer, because his dad refused to take his kids to multiple practices at different times. He would only sign them up for things they could all do during the same time slot and be on the same team. Swimming was one of those things.

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Kris October 7, 2011 at 8:29 am

I did enjoy my free evening. The whole school year is usually hectic, but that is what comes with things like final exams and school sports. It isn’t a case of a parent planning a kid’s activities when they are teenagers because they usually make their own decisions about what sports they want to play. I would never have one of my kids play a sport they didn’t want to. That was how my oldest son’s travel soccer career ended. He started complaining about going to practice in the spring and when tryout time came, I told him he couldn’t try out because I wasn’t going to take time and money for something he was going to sporadically enjoy. If they do love sports or whatever, at least it is a healthy activity that will hopefully keep them out of trouble.

I think part of the issue is that high school is incredibly demanding compared to when I was in high school. Combine that with outside activities, and you end up with a very busy family.

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