Inspiration

For me, October is traditionally plunge-into-the-depths-of-despair month, for a variety of reasons but all with the same result. And...it's October, obviously, so it hasn't been the greatest of times for me, which may be one reason for my lack of inspiration. Why October? This is also the time of the year when my eczema flares suddenly and drastically (and maddeningly) - perhaps it's all connected. At any rate, this morning I woke up early, trying to capture a moment of solitude and tranquility before tackling another day, but I also woke to sounds in the kitchen. I was a little surprised to find my two oldest bustling around the table, somewhat bleary-eyed as it was rather early for them. But they greeted me cheerfully, poured some milk into a bowl of cereal, announced my breakfast, and presented me with cards they had made the day before. This was all for being, as Drew put it, "the best mommy ever," and it was an even better start to the day than the one I had planned. Of course, the good feeling was tested and tried a couple hours later when Ryan came to me and said I needed to see something, directing me to the bathroom wherein there had been a toilet overflow. Not too long after that, he also showed me an empty fish food canister, wherein had previously been about a month's worth of food. "I fed the fish!" In his room, his piranha-like goldfish (no kidding) were greedily gobbling at the swirling food in the (very small) tank, and there were fish flakes all over the boys' dresser and surrounding carpet, so math hour was replaced by clean-out-the-fish tank, leave-that-plunger-alone, DON'T-flush-the-toilet-again, WAIT, STOP, DON'T pour-all-the-gravel-in-the-sink, and LEAVE-THOSE-FISH-ALONE time.:-)

Well, that was a little garbled, but it was something. October is almost over, November is a little shorter, and God is still good.