Perspective.

Today is the last day of Spring. And also Father's Day! As I type this I am listening to my children play with their dad upstairs. He is such a loving and patient father! They adore him and so do I. He is an amazing provider and always looking out for us. I am also grateful for my own dad. I am thankful for the time spent with him last week while we visited Hot Springs. He includes the kids in everything he can, spending countless hours with them. Asher said something to me about how Grandpa did this or that with him, and I replied, "He is a wonderful grandpa! And he was always a wonderful dad to me. He took us fishing and boating and camping and so much more, and spent his life making us feel loved and wanted. I have great memories of my childhood." I love you, Dad! So I have been mulling over my One Little Word for Spring, Perspective, and thinking of how I wanted to write this post. I haven't devoted a lot of time to musing about my OLW like I used to do, especially that first year I started having them (every month a different one). But even though I don't write about them a ton, my OLW is never far from my mind. I contemplate it every day, off and on, and how I can make decisions or change my choices to better honor it, and therefore be a better wife and mom. I am not perfect, far from it! But I am trying. And I think that is what the OLW is all about. Being more conscientious. And I am happy having a OLW per season, that has given me more time to focus on it before moving on. Perspective has been a GOOD one for me. I tend to obsess about the little things. The details. I am easily overwhelmed, if I don't mentally check myself. Shifting my focus, by remembering to keep perspective, as opened my mind tremendously. The definitions that really hit home to me: "A way of regarding situations and judging their relative importance." "Objectivity." "A sensible understanding of something's true importance." It amazes me to think how subjective our world really is. Everyone sees it a little differently. Something that is a big deal to me, may mean little or nothing to someone else, even someone very close to me. So many situations these past 3 months I have stepped back and thought, this doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. My kids won't remember there being dust on the furniture or fuzzies on the carpet. They'll remember if I said, "Sure I'll go play outside with you!" or "No, Mommy is busy cleaning the house right now." Countless scenarios like this. Of course, the house has to be cleaned at some point, and the laundry done and the lawn mowed and dinner cooked. But it doesn't have to be magazine-perfect or a 5 course meal. This is just a fraction of how this OLW has helped me in the big picture of things! The kids and I spent 10 days visiting John's parents in Mississippi (3 days), my parents in Arkansas (4 days), then back to John's parents (3 days), also seeing siblings and cousins. It was HOT and HUMID, wow I do not miss those steamy Southern summers, but I kept my PERSPECTIVE and appreciated the opportunity we had to be with family. The kids, especially Asher being 7 now, are creating lifelong memories every time we visit, and that is so important to both John and I. We swam, shopped, boated, and more. It was a relaxing time and hard to come back to "reality". The kids begged to stay longer, they kept saying they weren't ready to come home. I said to Allie one evening, "Don't you miss Daddy? Aren't you ready to go home to Kentucky?" to which she replied, "Yes! I miss Daddy! But NOT YET!" She cried several times on the almost 9 hour trip home (from Mississippi) that she didn't want to leave Mimi & Papa's house yet. She was very sad, and Asher was a super grumpy bear the ride home as well. Not much fun. However, once we got home to the farm, and they saw Daddy and the pups and everything else wonderful, they changed their tune. Visiting is wonderful, but coming home is even more so. :)