Today I brought my kids bowling. All 3 of them. I took a few pictures of them looking cute and they took pictures of each other and me. And if that’s all you saw posted on social media, you would think that we were living the best summer life, and that my kids are so well behaved, and that I’m a perfect mom who’s got her you know what together.
And I’m here to tell you, you’d be wrong.
I was diagnosed with high blood pressure last week. I eat healthy, I exercise, I generally take care of myself. But I have high blood pressure. It’s some combination of stress and genetics I guess.
Anyway, I’ve been trying to take it easy. With 3 very active boys that’s nearly impossible. I woke up this morning with a headache. It was raining out and was muggier than I care to subject myself to. So while we are generally an “outside no matter the weather” family, outside this morning was out of the question.
These kids are tired… exhausted really. Since school let out for the summer, their normal schedule has been completely disrupted. Life has become a game of shuffling around to summer camp, grandparents houses, summer activities, and we also threw in a week away for good measure. In addition to that, the kids think that with the sun setting later, they should stay awake later too.
Basically, they’re just exhausted. As am I.
Given the weather, I had planned to take them to an indoor playground for a couple of hours this morning. But when I told them that, they said they didn’t want to go. They wanted to go bowling instead. But bowling didn’t open for another 3 hours… and if I’m being honest, it was rough getting through those 3 hours.
My kids tend to think they are constantly trying out for the next WWE tour and there’s no amount of talking that can snap them out of it.
And so we just survived until we could get to bowling.
And then everyone was happy.
But it was hard to get through this morning. I won’t lie and say that my kids colored quietly or sang some lovely songs about friendship. Nope. It was hard. I thought I was going to lose it a few times. The day was long… very long. But we made it.
And now we’re at the beach… because our kids just can’t survive without being outside. Plus I need to relax and the beach helps with that.
Sometimes the days are long, and the only way to get through is to know that everything is temporary and today will be over. Tomorrow is a new day. I like to repeat “this too shall pass” to myself whenever I’m having an especially hard or long day.
What helps you through your long days?