Clarity

I was prepared to write a blog post about the things that annoyed me today, as there were many.

I was annoyed at the little boy in the baby pool who kept hitting Sophia and splashing her face and kicking her ball away from her when she tried to pick it up.   (And really annoyed when I realized his mother was not even in the baby pool area). ~~~  Then it occurred to me that while there was really no excuse for the mom not to be there, maybe the boy had trouble socializing.  Maybe he has SPD.  Maybe he hasn't ever been taught how to play with others.  Then again, maybe he's just an asshole-in-training, but he was just a kid.  And we outlasted him anyway.

I was annoyed that my local news doesn't know the difference between "except" and "accept." ~~~ While I don't really judge people (ok, I"m lying, I do...I just keep it to myself) who don't use this correctly in, for example, an everyday Facebook post, I do reserve the right to mock and ridicule journalists and/or writers who don't use this properly.  I'm a grammar nerd.  I can't help myself.  I'm still looking for a nice sunny bright side to this like I tried to find with the boy mentioned above.  I'll get back to you.

I was annoyed that the kids ate all of the bananas before I was able to make peanut butter/banana/marshmallow fluff sandwiches for lunch.  And then I was glad that they were eating something healthy.  Although, in all fairness, they'll eat anything that isn't nailed down.

A few others things have been on my mind - some things that I have a legitimate beef about, some things about which  I'm being overly sensitive.

And then I read a post from a dear friend that took my breath out of my body, sat me down, and slapped me right in the head..."you're worried/complaining/stressed about THAT?"  Get over yourself, Crystal.  Go hug your children.  Be thankful that they are healthy and happy.  And that's what I did.

A mother lost her child today.  A father lost his daughter.  A baby lost her twin sister.  Heaven gained an angel  - and I gained some clarity on what's important.  I posted on Facebook, "I really hate that it takes something horrible and unthinkable to happen to someone else  to make me realize  how irrelevant and  and petty my grievances with the world are. :-(" Who would have thought a 2 week old baby could teach me that?