Do you do that thing where you plan out your day in your head? You make plans for what things that you can and should get done before the end of the day. Analyzing the approximate time of each event and each chore. Setting expectations that anyone can see are unreasonable and ridiculous. I do. When unsuccessful, do I learn from my mistakes? Nope. I do the same thing the next day. Yesterday, I was planning to get the the tree trimmed (check), the Christmas decorations out (check), and all of my baking done (are you nuts?). When presented with a day with only one activity planned, I was sure I could rectify yesterday's undone list. We would attend a quick event - which in my mind would take an hour or two - it took 5 - then I would tackle, well, everything. Baking, laundry, grocery shopping, prepping for the school week, prepping for the work week, etc. The list was far more ambitious than even I was typically guilty. If the key to happiness is low expectations, I was in for some serious unhappiness.
The day started with some brown chair time. The time of day that Rich and I relish a cup of coffee and have some quiet togetherness. Sometimes we chat and sometimes we just exist. There was no reason to rush, we had the whole day! In what seemed like 5 minutes, the clock had fast forwarded an hour and it was time to get ready for the Creighton/Nebraska basketball game. We were attending a pre-event with E's basketball academy and we decided the whole family could come. So we hustled everyone into their fan gear and headed through the snow to Creighton.
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| DPP Day2: Going to the game. |
There were moments in the hustle that I wanted to call it quits. Blame the weather and just nestle in and stay home. There would have been good in that too but we just couldn't miss out on this family outing. Plus E had some good friends that she had planned to meet there. We were so glad that we did go.
I have a few favorite moments from today. First, E recognized her role as one of the "big kids" of the event and made a point to engage and befriend the younger players. She was acknowledged for this by some of the coaches but I think the true reward was in the new friendships forged with her buddies. To prove she is still learning, there was a point in which she nudge one of her new little buddies out of her seat so that E could sit by her friend. Fortunately, she redeemed herself by letting her sit on her lap. I love these glimpses I get to see how her talents play in the world. Second, Big B was an avid fan today. He chose to cheer for Nebraska because the rest of our crew cheered for Creighton (something my father assures me is shameful as a double NU alum but I am Creighton Proud now!). In true B form, he was going to do his part to try and even out the fans for each team. Fairness and empathy are big features in his world - he could teach the world a thing or two. Suddenly, mid-game, I realized he was yelling out cheers that included the player's names. He was paying close enough attention to start learning the names of players. He surprises me most days. . . .today was no different. Lil B spent most of the game time of the day engrossed in his book so he didn't have any big stories today - except when I went to try and get a picture he dramatically said, "I am TRYING to READ lady!" Lil B is normally charming, outgoing, and fully engaged. He traded that today for bookworm - we all need those days. Another unusual thing is that he was quite most of the event.... weeeelllll - except for the small stent where there was a battle for the arm rest. We have all had that battle - it gets ugly when the competitor is your sister. Finally - K was a hoot at this game. She had a ball. Every time I turned around, she was dancing around with the craziest looks on her face. Once she figured out this amused me, she played it up big time and follow it up by laughing hysterically.
I had thought we would arrive home around 2pm with time for playdates and to do lists but instead, 4:30 was our arrival time. The rest of my day was spent fighting with computers to try and make this post possible. But let's not talk about that now. . . .for I have nothing nice to say.
So the high expectations of productivity will have to be set for another day. For today was about family, fun, and enjoying each other's company (check). Because the world will still turn if I don't bake cookies, the kids will still get dressed even if we have to dig to find an outfit, and the groceries will eventually get purchased. An those high expectations turned out to be low expectations - or at least that is what I assume - for today was a very happy day.
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