Sometimes it's all about perspective

I have been recognizing recently that the difference between success and failure can sometimes be just a matter of your perspective.

I have been looking forward to posting today for a good week or so. We had a great weekend planned to kick off spring break for us and the kids and I was really stoked about coming here on Monday morning and sharing with all my friends out here what a great weekend we had.

Long story short? This weekend = FAIL.

First, we planned months ago for Mike and Sarah to go rock climbing on Saturday at a nearby state part with some guides through our city’s parks & recreation department. They did this once last year and had a great time.

And then the great deluge of 2009 (or so I’m calling it) happened last week. In an area of the country where we are thankful for a sprinkle of rain once a month, we had two SOLID days of cold rain.

The rock climbing guide called Friday evening and said, “Um, yeah. It’s STILL raining so I’m thinking tomorrow is off.” We rescheduled for April.

But that was okay… because there was still Sunday. The rain was supposed to clear on out and we had planned our first trip to College Station with the kids. We were taking our kids to Aggieland to watch the Ags BTHO Baylor and they were really excited about it.

(If you’re thinking to yourself, “What does BTHO mean?” It’s an Aggie thing. It stands for “Beat the hell outta…”)

I was going to have stories to share, tales to tell, and exciting memories to recount. (Do you notice the tense with which I am talking about this?)

We woke up later than intended Sunday morning due to an alarm clock malfunction. (I swear that alarm clock is going to malfunction right out the window one of these days.) But we got up and moving. Then, after a trip to the donut shop, Mike went in to get Nathan up. He came out, carrying him and said that he had a headache and didn’t feel well.

“Maybe he just needs to eat something,” we thought and hoped. So we got him buckled in and a little bit of food, only to have that food come right back at us. SO, little man and I stayed home while daddy and sister went on to visit the promised land.

Nathan cried… hard. I wanted to also, but had to stay strong because that’s what we moms do.

So instead of seeing this…

I saw a lot of this…

He wouldn’t let me put him down at all Sunday morning. I saw a lot of the top of his head…

And as I sat there in the rocking chair with this pathetic little 3 year old boy lying up against me, I kept thinking, “I could be doing laundry, or baking that bread that I want to try, or working on some cinnamon rolls…”

Then I remembered what two very wise moms reminded me about when we had lunch last Thursday. I’m not guaranteed the next day or even the next moment with this little man. And I decided that if he didn’t want me to put him down and wanted to take a nap cuddled up with me, I was just fine with that.

The rest could wait.

This weekend = Success.

It’s all about perspective.