Grateful Friday

Sometimes it is just the small occurrences in my life that delight me.

I like the mini lectures my extroverted sisters gave me in the comments in response to a recent blog post.  Those girls may lecture me but in every way important or small, they have my back.  They always have and they always will.

I appreciate that when I'm not feeling well (like earlier this week) Adam takes care of me in little and big ways.  He goes out of his way and then tells me he didn't go out of his way.  (But I know his way and he went out of it.)

I love that when Braeden came home to borrow a cooler for his weekend escapades, he quickly emptied the dishwasher before he left.

I love this text exchange he shared with me:

I don't know who the person is who got a new phone.  I don't know if Braeden ever told them it was him or maybe they were a good enough friend that they figured it out based on the response.

I love Emma's texts too which are often succinct.

I love when she responds with things like:

or

I feel good when I'm relatable to Emma and when she gives me 10/10?  Well, that's like winning the lottery.

I love the ways that I can rely on Mark, currently my one and only child at home.  He puts things away on the top shelf, shows me how to do things like extend the mop handle (it was impossible until he showed me and then it wasn't) and this morning when we were watching CNN 10 and they were talking about submarines, I paused the iPad so I could ask Mark about submarines and how they're able to be stealthy.  He explained the downside of pinging with sonar and then told me about rubber hulls which they use for insulation.  Then I started up the video again and they talked about rubber hulls.

All my kids know more than I do and I'm glad they share their knowledge.

I loved this text from Adam:

I loved when I was working with a first grader the other day.  I had him write words on sticky notes (which it turns out is way more fun than writing on regular paper).  He would decorate the words with smiley faces and check marks if he got them correct and he would write a big X if he got the word wrong.  At the end of our session, he looked at the sticky notes fondly and said, "You can keep those," like he was bestowing me with a great gift.  Delightful.

And then there was yesterday on the drive home from school when Mark told me he was "shook" in his geography class.  They had talked about the student protest and his teacher had basically said what I had said the day before.  When I had said it, Mark had said, "Yeah, yeah," like I was a verbal mosquito buzzing around his head.

When the inestimable Mrs. Braithwaite had told him the same thing, he was shook.

I said, "That's pretty much what I had told you, right?"

He said, and not even ironically, "Yes, Mom.  You are really smart.  You are one of the smartest people in the world."

I turned the car around and went to find a notary public so we could have that statement put in legal writing.

(OK, not really, but I was tempted.)