Good days and challenging days. Sometimes I get the feeling that we found our groove. Then we seem to jump off track. We role play the events of the day, and Jackie takes my role and processes what happened. Yesterday morning she spilled my coffee because she was too wiggly around me. In the afternoon we pretended I spilled her coffee. She got upset but she forgave me for burning her lap. She hugged me and said “it was a simple mistake. I forgive you.” She was so convincing it made me teary. To err is human, and I see our daughter relax in the predictability of our honest healthy reactions to a wide range of events.
As a friend of mind said about exercise and healthy living, that it needs to be a way of life, to incorporate and expect it daily, this is how the roller coaster of parenting is. Incorporate and expect the unexpected daily. It’s a way of life.
Today we celebrate 10 years from our wedding day. Jackie agreed to go out with daddy to walk the dog. And they all gave me 15 minutes of extra sleep and silence. What a treat!
All I can remember from all the marriage classes, books, articles is that a long marriage is kept happy by a few key traits, kindness being at the top. Be kind to one another. And forgive daily.
How can you love and delight in someone so much, and the next minute they can ride on your nerves with a broken lawnmower. One would say it’s just family. And I would have to agree.