Perspective

Alright, so my life isn't always as blissful as it looks to me when I view it through my blog. I show a lot of the good; here is some of the ugly. Anyone who has witnessed an "episode" with Aubrey will have a better understanding of what I went through today. Aubrey has a gift for throwing tantrums beyond what is normally deemed a toddler tantrum. I'm talking, beyond the normal kicking, screaming, crying, stuff ...these are "fits of life!" I'm talking, out of control thrashing, wreathing on the sidewalk and nearly foaming at the mouth (if saliva could foam when mixed with mucus, there would be foam). There is possibly no term fit to represent these acts so I will hereafter refer to them as "episodes". While enjoying a lovely morning watching Lexi be enthralled in her gymnastics class, the wrong trigger sent Aubrey into an "episode" and I was left with no choice but to haul her outside. That meant heaving Aubrey under one arm, kicking and screaming and gathering the baby and all our other belongings that I could barely heft with two arms under my remaining arm. We had to walk (stumble) in front of all the other parents on our desperate attempt at getting to the door and on our way out, Aubrey's boots went flying through the lobby once she got her legs kicking hard enough. We made it through the door, thank heavens, but it was 40 degrees outside and there were 10 min left of class, and Aubrey had no shoes on so I couldn't put her down, nor could I go back in to get them since she was still screaming louder than most kids are capable of. I stood there with the bravest smile I could muster as parent after parent walked by me with the thoughts, "yikes! sure glad that isn't my kid!" and the ever present, "you have your hands full!" written all over their faces. One passerby, staring at me with great pity, asked if she could help in any way. I accepted her offer and asked if she'd bring Aubrey's boots to me so I could at least put her down, which she did. No sooner did I get her little feet covered than she took off and ran to scream on her own down the sidewalk a ways. She rolled all over it (Why I tried to hold her to keep her off the freezing cold, wet and mildew covered, concrete, I don't know. It was apparently a waste of effort) and returned home with green, wet clothes. But we survived and will sadly be unlikely to ever get to watch Lexi at her class again. That was the first "episode" today. The second was this evening when another trigger went off and she ran up the middle of the street outside, in her white tights with no shoes on screaming, "I want daddy! Get away from me! Leave me alone!" Again she rolled all over the concrete and slobbered over her face and the neighbors came out to check on us of course. (Embarrassing, yes.) Again we survived and hopefully have two less "episodes" to tackle in the future. Why do I share this? Well, I hope to laugh at it one day or perhaps draw strength by reading what I got through. Also, because I love this quote by President Hinkley. I think it is true of all our lives, and our perspective will make all the difference in how we react to it and what we do with it. He said, “Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” Is there any better advice on getting through a day like today than that? And so it is, that we hit a few bumps, and got our jolts and delays, but we saw some beautiful vistas along the way, and we sure enjoyed the ride.