A Winner

This weekend I looked inside to see if I was a winner. And I think I was.

I took the photograph of this club cracker box one day a couple weeks ago because Baby Girl, upon seeing the back of the box, pointed to the fellow athlete on the far right and proclaimed it was her father. "Daddy!" she exclaimed. I swear, I have never even met the guy. Don't know his name even. The only one I recognize is Kristi Yamaguchi, from Dancing With the Stars right? T does bear some resemblance to this handsome lucky winning man on the right. Feel free to tell me who he is if you know. He may like to know he owes me some child support. KIDDING!

Seriously though, weekends around here lately have been where I am at my worst. Kids fighting, causing me grief, etc. Patience not being a strong point for me, I have often lost it and then felt like... you know... not a winner.

I have often pondered of my dear friend SC's situation. Her husband deployed over a year ago. Knowing that deployment for T was a possibly in our future, I spoke to her about her experience. She is always wise. She said, "There were things we learned during D's deployment that we never could have learned any other way." Then I would take note when her kids pitched in like I had never seen before, sweeping floors, mixing up pancakes from scratch (serious), getting along with each other. I just thought it was SC and her amazingness. Or could it have been the things they went through? Anyways- they are winners.

This weekend I took the kids to the DC temple grounds to see the lights. For those of you who are familiar with this environment at Christmas time, you can now applaud for me. It is crowded and cold and there are lots of "no touchys" It felt like the crowds in Korea again. When T heard what I did he emailed me with this quote: "I remember those VC visits from years past - dragging the kids through the Creche exhibit - hoping they wouldn't touch anything, feeling my blood boil as they dart in & out of people - egads how did you do it by yourself- good job you're amazing. If I had pompoms, I'd be doing a Kelly cheer right now."

I showed up early before our friends. I was brave. I went through the nativity exhibit with a crying two year old. We froze outside while watching the live nativity. I lost a 2 year old behind a large tree with dolls from around the world. Then I endured the tantrum that ensued after telling her 'no'. It was a long tantrum. LONG! Perhaps it was the fact that I was in public that I didn't loose it. But the weird and new part for me was that I never once felt like losing it. In fact I felt like laughing at the situation. It was a laugh or cry situation. Did I mention the teenagers who didn't want to be there or the attack of sudden sickness? Both happened and both times I just smiled and did my best to fix things. I was like my mother used to be. My mother who was a saint and never lost it.   She was a winner. I am growing into something I don't think I could have become unless challenged in this way. Perhaps she gained her inner strength when she was a young widow with 5 children. Hard to say, but this weekend when I looked inside to see if I was a winner, I was!  I wonder what my prize will be?