New Year’s bike/scooter ride along the bike trail
Our first trip to Whole Foods. The first of many to drain my bank account but provide my
family with hormone-free, naturally grown food
I had a scary dream last night. I know that listening to other people’s dreams is really boring — only interesting to the person who had the dream — but my dream has a bigger point.
My dream was that Chris lost his job. You know how dreams work – skipping from one event or conversation to the next without transition. So, Chris tells me that he lost his job. Next thing I know I find Chris working at Kohl’s. I ask him what the heck he is doing wearing a Kohl’s uniform sitting in the lunchroom. He says, “I work here now.” I said, “what?? You work at Kohl’s? How much are you getting paid?” Chris replies, “$7.50 an hour”. “Seven dollars and fifty cents an hour! We are going to lose everything. Our house. Our possessions. We will never be able to go anywhere. I will have to cancel all the kids’ extracurricular activities, including preschool.”
That is the last thing I remember before my dream ended. My dream left a lasting uneasy feeling in my belly all day. I realized that there are so many people all around us who are in even worse positions than I was in my dream. Some people lost their jobs and cannot even find a $7.50 per hour paying job. Some people don’t have a home to live in and don’t even know how they will be able to afford to rent.
You never know how someone might feel until you walk a mile in their moccasins right? This dream gave me, for a brief time, the realism of what it must feel like to be in the hopeless position many have found themselves in over the last several years with a failing economy and housing market.
My dream was an important reminder not to take your blessings in life for granted. That dream made me appreciate that Chris has a good job and we live in a nice home and we are comfortable and well taken care of. Life sends reminders to be gratuitous from time to time.
Life has also sent me a reminder that no matter how much I want to protect my children, they are still going to get hurt, either physically or emotionally. My little triplets were roughhousing on Preston’s bed the other night when all of a sudden I hear this loud CLUNK. That clunk was Violet’s head hitting the wooden train table. She cried hard. I was cuddling her when I saw a trickle of blood roll down her face. I immediately knew it wasn’t going to be good. I knew it. I followed the line of blood to a big gaping gash in her scalp. Chris and I panicked for about 30 seconds and then Chris got in the car and drove Violet to Urgent Care, which was luckily still open at 8pm. They ended up putting 4 staples in her head. It’s disgusting. Violet was a brave little girl. I felt this strange guilt that I knew they were all playing on Preston’s bed and I didn’t stop them before the accident happened.
Parents cannot prevent every accident, but we can try to remove our children from potentially dangerous situations. That is where I failed.
The mothership is still imperfect.
Happy New Year!
Until next time, the mothership is signing off.