Extraordinary Everyday - DPP2023 Day 5

 First - Happy Birthday to Walt Disney! 

For the most part - today was an average everyday Tuesday.   The day started before the sun was up getting Lil B off to school - you can see how he is fired up and ready to tackle the world.  The carpool waiting game.

Middle school around here starts sooooooo early and then they like being there early to socialize.  

Mornings have become a time and space in an otherwise packed day that I can take a little time for myself.  In the last couple years, my responsibilities have expanded to such that there isn’t a lot of space in my days.  Rich has been unbelievable during this time and is also stepping into more Daddy duty than he previously did.  My morning time with some coffee and my Bible study gives me some peace before tackling whatever challenges the day may hold.  

These two join me in my morning time.  Here they are in the morning light and the glow of the bathroom light that teenage boys seem completely unable to turn off upon departure.  They are looking at me expectantly because we have begun to feed them Farmer’s Dog in the mornings which is real food.  They love it and stare me down until I feed them.  It has made Teddy (the bigger and older one) start acting like a puppy again and we went all summer without dead grass from their pee.  So we are fans and based on their shameless begging - so are they.   

Mom had a banner day today. She got picked up by E and taken out for brunch.  Those two have a special relationship and E is so sweet to her.  Mom also got to see her friend Barb who brought her a cute little Christmas gift.  My mom’s friends are such loyal people.  Mary and Claudianna come to visit regularly as well. I am tremendously grateful for that support and added bright spots to Mom’s week.  I showed up tonight to find her gone on a Christmas Light Tour - something Mom and Dad used to do together so I know she loved it. When she walked in and saw me, she lit up with the biggest smile!   Made my day    At her request, I got her ready for bed and even did her hair for her post shower frizz control.  We always laugh at the curling of hair for bedtime - so we took a picture to commemorate her beauty. 

You can tell how sleepy she is after her long but happy day.  There are so many hard and anxious days in this disease process that days like today are so precious. Love that smile of hers and those anxiety free eyes.  

As promised - I briefly caught Big B.  He has a job now and he is gone often which makes our home environment less fun but we are proud of the skills he is building.  When he is home, this is what he is often doing.  He will even narrate fight scenes with new names for each player - the most common being Bat B and the battle of Pusillanimous P.  The latter name coming from the puppy Patsy and her fear of nearly all things inanimate.  

Every hero needs a good nemesis.   I love in this photo - nothing is in focus except Teddy - who generally just stands and barks - as if to discipline the other two whom never stop moving.   

Big B loves his pups and takes awesome care of them.  They reward him with constant attention and play.  

Much like Big B’s shorts are foreshadowing what will likely be his future on the blog - he can be hard to catch a photo - even these he finds offensive.  

Before he becomes elusive again - he did end my day in the most Big B of ways.  He had a weird bloody nose last night and did all his own laundry to clean it up (yay for independence building).  He found a pillow ruined - noted the spots looked like eyes - so he added a sharpie smile and now the pillow is named Tim.  I suspect by morning, Tim will have an elaborate backstory.   

As it is every year, this blog allows me to see the extraordinary in my ordinary every day Tuesday.  While we rush from one thing to the next, we can miss the goodness of it all if we don’t slow down enough to see it.  Truth be told - I almost skipped today because I didn’t think I had anything to say.  And now, I see the day as extraordinary.