Closer to Core: Happiness is...

Here's the thing, folks.... being an at home parent is wonderful: staying in your jammies until ten, choosing activities you want to have in your day, taking time to go to the park on those beautiful sunny days, baking chocolate chip cookies at two in the afternoon because you want to...

But here's the other thing... being an at home parent is super hard: having a filthy house and not having time to clean in, not being able to go to the bathroom by yourself, eating your food cold and on the go (lunch break? ha!), wrastling both kids into the car to go the grocery store for the one item you forgot for the dinner only to arrive at the parking lot of said store and hear a loud eruption from your baby's diaper and hoping that it is at least contained in the diaper because you didn't replace the last change of clothes you had in your diaper bag after the last butt explosion episode....

Right. Well, you get the point. Being an at home parent is a mixed bag. And there are days when nothing has gone well or when every moment of your day has been for someone else and really, you'd just like to escape to Costa Rica or Jamaica for a weekend or just take a walk around the neighbourhood by yourself or hey, just sit in the car in total silence, while parked in your driveway. These are the days when I need a little.... something. Alcohol, sure, but I'm talking about something I can have at ten o' clock in the morning.

So, I'm going to try and get back to picture taking and noticing the things (big or little) that make me happy. Things that just make me smile and relax me a bit, remind me that "It's only life after all" (to quote the Indigo Girls). Because after all, we all need to remember that and to see the many things that just fill us with a bit more lightness. I am going to attempt (ahem) to put up these "Happiness is..." pictures every Friday. We'll see how consistent I can be.