Thanksgiving is right around the corner. As I’m typing this though, my house isn’t cheery and full of fall activities and giggles. I’m not soaking it all in, enjoying a pinterest-perfect house with a warm cup of coffee. Nah.
I’m in every mother’s special form of hell: three sick kids and a sick husband AT ONCE.
I’m juggling medications, breathing treatments, fever checks, meals, baths, laundry, sanitizing, doctor appointments, etc. which means I am so. so. tired. The kind of tired that when I finally pass out in bed, I don’t move all night, and I wake up with sore legs from the constant running around. With every load of dishes, my sick husband is pushing himself to the brink of worsening his illness and I have to constantly remind him to sit down, but if I’m being honest: I am SO grateful for his help. This in turn feeds the guilt that is ever-present in my brain, and now I’m busy taming that beast, too.
Whew. Amidst this chaos, though? I find gratefulness for the smallest of things, because all of the big things are really big and really difficult. Being a mom to sick babies is hard, being a wife to a sick husband is hard, family is always difficult during the holidays, and work and trips and school programs keep filling our calendar. The big things are taking up too much space to feel any sort of thankfulness for them right now.
So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, here’s ten of my tiny thanks (in no particular order):
- A clean, warm blanket fresh out of the dryer
- Snoozing and snuggling with my kids in bed on a Saturday morning
- The sound of rain on the metal porch roof outside of my bedroom window in the middle of the night
- The rosary in my hand when I can’t fall asleep
- A complete, uninterrupted, unhurried nighttime routine
- Flannel sheets + just shaved my legs
- Perfect-temperature coffee
- An unsolicited, unexpected “I love you” from one of my babies
- Actual cold weather so I can wear my favorite sweater
- My husband titling my chin up before kissing me
So there you have it–ten tiny things I am thankful for, despite whatever level of Dante’s Inferno I’m currently experiencing right now. The big things may be too big at the moment, but that’s okay. The small things are adding up beautifully.
Oh thank you so much. SO sorry your life is like that right now. My son and husband and I got Covid at same time and I was the least bad off so a lot fell to me – including ALL the work of our pony ride business. The reminder to look for the small things (including friends pitching in to help!) is SO important when life is so big with the not so nice things!
I’m so glad this spoke to you! Covid all at once?! No thank you! I’ve been there before and it was so difficult to find the tiny thanks. Thank you for sharing with me and for reading!