Ugly Cries and Hysterical Laughter
Good Good Friday morning, friends! I hope it is as beautiful where you are as where I am. I also hope you are able to get out – I know some places are stricter about the shelter-in-place rules than Texas is.
Yesterday was an exhausting day for me. As parents, we like to keep it all together and carry on for our kids’ sake. Even if they are all teens and up! However, scientists and psychiatrists have long known that carrying around a lot of stress and excess emotion has consequences beyond our brains and into our bodies.
Yet, when I crawl into bed, my brain is still going, and it is hard to fall asleep. You too?
So today we are going to have some fun. Are you ready?
1) Write down, on slips of paper, things you want to do when we are no longer on isolation rules. Maybe it’s simple, like go get ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Maybe it is big, like go to Disney World. Don’t think about logistics, such as “I lost my job and can’t afford it now.” Just dream. The “how” can come later. Put them in a pretty jar on the kitchen table.
Encourage your kids to do the same. Remind them to put small things, not just big things. This serves two purposes. It is for hope – to remind yourself that things will return to normal later. It is for gratitude – to not take for granted life’s simple and profound pleasures.
When this time is over, go do them! Do the simple things first and work towards the things that are a stretch.
2) Keep a journal. Like I said, we’re exhausted so you may not write in it everyday. But scribble down things you don’t want to forget – the sound of your youngest laughing hysterically with his friends on Xbox, the great meal you discovered in this time of cooking Way.Too.Much, the FaceTime call with your mom, once she finally figured the technology out, your ugly cry on the day of your son’s prom that didn’t happen. (Yep, that was me.)
3) We all know that we can’t force our teens to join in on family fun, amiright? (See last week’s post) But, when it does happen, sneak a picture. Things you wouldn’t consider taking a picture of two years ago. The board game in the heat of “battle”. Your son’s first attempt at baking a cake. Your artist daughter drawing chalk designs on the sidewalk. These will be stored up as precious memories.
4) Try not to whine on social media too much. In fact, limit your social media in this time of scary news and crazy conspiracy theories. Granted, there is solace in knowing that you are not alone, but too much defeats the purpose of trying to make it through this thing with your sanity intact. #preachingtomyself
Instead, go ahead and share the positive stories (have you seen John Krasinski’s Some Good News stories yet? Hilarious and heartwarming.)
5) Take a nap. You have time to enjoy one!
Links to Enjoy Today
Leah Lively shows us what Good Friday really means…
Because it’s my blog and I can do this if I want to, here is my middle (the high school senior this year) on his school’s Instagram page interviewing the four-year-old class he helps out with, when school is in session. So cute! (The kids, not my son. But he’s cute, too!)
Just for fun… I hope there aren’t copyright laws I’m breaking! Me and my men…
On a more serious note, I thought this was beautiful, from my writer friend “the Dolly Mama”.
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