Today

I can't remember the last time I had the luxury of taking a long shower AND having an afternoon nap all in the same day.  Lauren went to playgroup this morning, which meant I had 2 hours to do whatever I wanted.  After much thought I decided to forgo shopping or cleaning or using the time to exercise, instead I chose to shower...  for as long as I wanted, with out a single other person in the house.  That meant no one was knocking at the door, or opening the door, calling my name or sticking their little fingers between the shower doors and trying to open them.  It meant I got to stay in there and turn up the heat and not worry about who needed what and where I should be rushing off to.  It was just what I was hoping for.

Then I sat on the sofa and indulged in some daytime TV with a bag of Mothers Frosted Circus Animal Cookies. I am laughing now just reminiscing about it. 

The nap came later after story time with the kids.  Julia offered her pillow pet and I was out.  I awoke to the sound of Darin and the boys playing catch in the yard and my blond-haired beauty tapping my arm.  Jules and I whipped up a batch of our favorite chocolate chip cookies and as we sat down to dinner she offered with a grin: "today feels like a special day". 

If the day couldn't get any better, our family photos arrived in the mail.  Beautiful images of our children and our family poured out onto my computer screen and I thought to myself, "this is what life is about."  One day they will be grown, they will leave home to go to college and serve missions and create homes and families of their own.  And I will pull out these photographs and remember that these were the happiest day's of my life.