Normal

It has been a month since I posted a blog entry.

By way of an excuse, I will just say that I've been busy. (FYI, that is my least favorite excuse for anything in life. Everyone is busy, and life busyness shouldn't be an excuse for anything, in my opinion.) I'll rephrase: I've been consistently choosing other things over blogging...like brushing my teeth, and exercising, and teaching my children all that 1st, 3rd, and 6th graders need to know for the year. Also there have been trips to the zoo, weekend getaways with family, toenail painting, redecorating, water gun fights, movies...and more. You get the idea. Busy=Choosing other things.

This week, for example, I went to see a movie with my sister.

By. Ourselves.

Without any of our 7 children.

Its been years since we did that...like ten years, at least.

We had the best time.

It was a movie about motherhood, and it was so true to life that we laughed till we cried.

On the way home I said "We could have starred in that movie. Or written it."

Which is not even a little bit of an exaggeration. If the movie people need material for their next "I'm a mother who may lose my mind or one of my children at any second and at the same time I'm trying to pretend like I've got it all together and insane things keep happening for no reason" movie...they should really call me.

Nate picked up a piece of candy/gum off the floor of Target this week. I stopped him before he put it in his mouth. Why did I stop him? Well, to remind him to "wipe it on your shirt before you eat it," of course.

Gabe tossed a vitally important piece of some robot down the vent in the hall. So I laid down on my stomach, removed the vent cover, and stuck my whole arm in there hunting for it.

My boys have all peed in remarkably inappropriate places in the last few weeks. The front yard, the slip-n-slide, the pool at a water park, the strawberry patch, the middle of the church parking lot.

I put my car in park before jumping out to grab something...except it wasn't all the way in park, it was in reverse, and it started rolling backwards before I was able to hop back in and stop it. It only rolled a few feet, so no harm done.

My 12-year-old daughter started shaving her legs this week. Not because she really, really needed to (she's blond, after all) but because she wanted to for her own comfort. And I said it was okay, mostly because I'll probably be fighting with her over stuff for the next 8 years, and this was one I didn't feel warranted a battle. Still, after giving her a few tips on how to NOT cut her leg off, as well as a forced-casual "good luck," I got sad. She's my baby girl, and she's growing up. When I glanced at my husband to see if he was feeling the same way as I was, he just raised his eyebrows at me and said "she's going to cut her leg off." Sigh...

Yesterday I was soaking up some sun while the boys played in the sprinkler, and the kids started calling that they had found a mouse, killed by our cat, on the deck. I instructed Clay to put on his gloves, pick it up, and throw it away...less than a minute later the dead mouse was dropped on my shoulder. It was still warm. And furry. And accompanied by squeals of laughter. (not mine, I assure you.)

You see what I mean? My life could be a movie. It is anything but normal.

Although...what is normal, really?

I've decided there is no such thing. Life just IS. It changes every day, and any attempt to force it to be a certain way will only result in feelings of failure followed by consumption of entire bags of Twizzlers.

And so, I am adding something new to my list of "least favorite, and therefor banned" sayings. Along with "I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to..." I'm no longer allowing the phrase "I just want things to be normal..." to be uttered in my presence.

Because normal is a lie. It's a mirage. And if we keep hunting for it, it will become a peace-of-mind killer.

"I have learned, in whatever circumstances, there-in to be content." Philippians 4:11

Even with a dead mouse on my bare shoulder.

I am content. And peaceful. (and also possibly a liar.)

Embrace your normal today. However warm and furry it may be.

And...after a month without blogging, that is, in fact, the best I can do.