"A Wink and a Smile"

The world is awake ... there are cars on the road and people outside walking/running Even at 6am, there is still some HEAT out there ... 80 degrees with 87% humidity (still sweaty) Senior citizen males (walking about) predominantly wear khaki shorts and white T's (this is no joke) If you run circles in a neighborhood you will start to wave hi to the same people (feeling a little silly after the fact) Crossing the highway to run to the other side brings a different crowd of runners (a little younger and a little faster on their feet) Squirting a water bottle too hard may result in water going up the nose instead of down the throat ... oops There are a lot of opportunities to run through the automatic sprinklers at this hour ... hope no one saw me I still sweat and still have to peel soaking wet clothes off at when I get home ... ick I didn't see any raccoons like I had just yesterday ... 3 BIG ones who looked me straight in the eye Getting home at 7:25am after 5.63 miles felt g...

Yesterday was one of those days ... extra friends at the house children forgetting the eat in the kitchen only rule little one feeling left out because she was the only one without a "friend" middle one begging for ANOTHER sleepover too much ... "mom, come see this" too much arguing, crying, and tears way too much "can I's?" AT about 3pm I felt one of those fight or flight responses . I really wanted to leave my almost 15 year old with her sisters and take my pathetic self to the bookstore for a little quiet time. I didn't go of course. Instead I looked into the sad eyes of my 5 year old whom I had promised I would take to the pool. We put on our suits and went together for nearly 90 minutes. She found a little girl to play with, had an ice cream treat, and suddenly all was right in the world. Still, when the pool visit was over, I came back to a slightly chaotic house. I wanted to feed my children and just escape. I even warned my husband t...