Picture Perfect

With the dreary, wet, anything-but-summer weather outside, cheerfulness comes to me only as a plodding choice.

After a messy, fitful night with a child unable to keep food or fever down, I found myself fixating on the worst case. I fought with worry, arguing about everything as serious (and perhaps far fetched) as febrile seizures and IV fluids to matters as selfish and inconsequential as missing the 10K road race this weekend.

This morning, I woke up to another day of summer rain, with a toddler that required a caravan of blankets, towels and a barf bucket just to travel to the family room. I had mentally prepared for the illness to hit every member of the family and stretch for a week or more.

So, when Sheridan slurped down a Pedia-Pop and asked for more, hope crept in. When she begged for a bagel and ate happily, hope stood up. And when, after four hours, both her breakfast and fevered had disappeared for good, I joined hope in the happy dance.

The idea of spending a whole summer's day indoors, coloring and cuddling, doesn't ordinarily fill me with wild joy. But today, it was cause for celebration. A picture perfect gift.


To read about more gifts discovered in the messy ordinary day, visit Chatting at the Sky for Tuesdays Unwrapped.