Today I’m thankful for surprises (well, nice ones anyway.) Until yesterday morning, when L reminded me that it was the last day of school for the week, I had completely forgotten that today and tomorrow, due to the Teacher’s Convention here in NJ, school is closed.
I still can’t believe that I forgot; first, because I’m very schedule-oriented and keep a tight calendar with everyone in the family’s agenda accounted for. Every year in August, I enter all of the “No School” days into my Outlook calendar and plan my schedule around them. Which leads me to the other reason I can’t believe I forgot: I was on the phone call during which Ali Brown announced Shine and offered the early-bird pricing but I didn’t register because, knowing the kids would be off from school the same two days, we had decided to go somewhere fabulous for the long weekend. Other events changed those plans, so we’re actually home, but of course Shine is all over FB and Twitter this week, so I can’t believe that I didn’t connect the two events: I’m not going to Shine because my children don’t have school. Duh!
So I’m thankful today that, in spite of all of the planning and scheduling I do, I can still be surprised with the gift of spending extra time with my sons. Today there was no finding shoes, packing lunches, making sure hair is combed and teeth are brushed and rushing out the door. Today I was gifted with a quiet morning with my coffee and The Early Show, then E deciding to join me for a walk with the dog and coming back to the smell of pancakes that L decided to make. Now they’re off doing their own things, but later today I’ll eat lunch with them, and then maybe (just maybe) I’ll be able to convince them to do their Saturday morning chores early this week so we can all do something fun together on Saturday. Wouldn’t that be a nice surprise?!
