A Small Kindness

After having stayed up until past midnight every day last week to get the house ready for showing without Jeff there, I was scrubbing a toilet when the phone rang. It was Jeff calling from Dallas to tell me that his company wants him to go to Paris.  Not Wichita or even Los Angeles.  Paris, France.  Next week. 

That night, a friend shampooed my living room and stair carpets with her amazing machine.  They looked better than they did when we moved in.  She stayed until after midnight.  The next day, I walked past Caleb and smelled poop.  Sure enough, it was on the bottom of his shoe.  What the...?  At the sink, scrubbing off poop, I tried to remember where he had been.  Oh NO!  Oh, yes.  The living room.  I investigated and saw poop foot prints in front of the couch.  Not on the tile in the bathroom, not even in a bedroom.  The living room.  A dozen or so.  Did I mention it was poop?

I find myself:

• Constantly reminding the kids to pick up their socks, put away their back packs, put the piano music in the bench, pick up towels off the bathroom floor, put their dishes in the dishwasher, make their beds, fix the cushions on the couch, breathe softer.  Please.
• Trying to help Rob and Kirsten on math homework, who may as well be asking Seth, for all the help I am.
• Attempting to fill all the emotional needs of my children when in robot mode, barely filling physical needs.

Just when I was about to jump off the Proverbial Cliff, I found an envelope with my name on it on my front porch.  Inside, a gift certificate for a pedicure and the following poem:

Your life right now is full of stress;

Your husband's away and you're not getting much rest.

Between juggling five kids and selling a home,

You're wondering why it is why you must roam

Back to your roots,

To Texas, the land of many cowboy boots.

But today's the day to just unwind,

Today's the day to focus on yourself and you'll find,

That while you are papmered with a pedicure

Tryng to relax and look all demure,

You'll put aside all of your woes,

Because you'll have the most gorgeous of toes!

Please pamper yourself!  You'll need it.

Love, A Friend

I cried.  It was exactly what I needed. 

Someone's annonymous Small Act of Kindness made a Huge Difference.

I think I'll wear sandals next week.  Or maybe they sell open-toed boots somewhere?