I Survived Spring Break! And Other Thoughts

A moment from this past week

There was a time when spring break, winter break, summer break—all forms of school break—were looked upon with excitement and anticipation. And then I had a child. Oh, have those feelings changed. My husband and I now approach school breaks with a bit of dread because we have to put our entire lives and schedules on pause. I am definitely one who thrives on routine so I was pretty spent by the end of spring break last week.

But at the start, we committed to making the most of Hugh’s spring break and decided to use the 9 days off of school to potty train our almost 3-year-old. We spent a lot of time in our home as he ran around pants-less, sometimes peeing in the potty, sometimes on the couch, you get the idea. 

I walked him to school on Monday morning beaming, because we were mostly successful in our efforts. He didn’t have any misses for the last three days of spring break and got really comfortable taking care of #2 in the potty, which was the biggest feat. I only use the word, “mostly” because he’s still not the most confident taking care of his business at school but that will just take time.

For those of you with preschool aged kids, I’m sure you can commiserate with these sentiments. For those of you without kids or whose kids are much older, thank you for indulging me as I talk about children’s poop and pee. Silly as it may sound, it feels like a huge accomplishment. As I was going to bed on Sunday night, I said to my husband, “I am so freaking proud of him! And so freaking proud of us! We did it!” 

In other news, I had the honor and pleasure of being interviewed for an inspiring blog called “"Biscuit's Space” last week. We covered the gamut from my former eating disorder to writing rituals to motherhood. I so appreciated her thoughtful questions and I only hope I was able to return in kind. You can read the interview here. 

Finally, I had a conversation with my friend this week who is going through a challenging time of figuring out what she really wants in life. I didn’t say much during our conversation as I felt like a listening ear and love were the best gifts I could offer. After we talked though, a well-known prayer by Thomas Merton, a Trappist Monk and writer, came to mind. I hadn’t recited this prayer in a while so I had to look up the words online. This time, I prayed these powerful words on her behalf. I commend them to you if you are also going through a confusing and hazy time in your life. 

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

What I love about this prayer is that it centers upon a God who is always with us and never leaves us. It conveys a similar idea to the one I shared last week about God as friend. Even though we may feel alone and lost, we aren’t ever abandoned. God guides us through the darkness, if we would but trust God in the dark.

Have a good week everyone. Until next Wednesday.