Reminders

I woke up in a bad mood this morning - craptacular is probably a good work for it. Not for any particular reason, I'm not really sure what triggered it. J and I slogged through some morning chores (breakfast for the kiddos, cleaning up the kitchen, taking out the recycling), and I was less than pleasant to be around. My kids, knowing that I get irritable when I don't eat, told me I should eat something. Great.

After visiting the recycling center, the boy child wanted to have a lunchtime picnic at a nearby lake. My first inclination was to say no, but I didn't really have a good reason. It was time for lunch, and J and I didn't have a better idea, so we agreed.

We put together some sandwiches, drinks, chips and cookies at the house, and headed out to the lake. It has finally started cooling off here in central Arkansas, and the air today feels comfortable, making a picnic sound better than the hellish outing it would have been 2 weeks ago. We settled in at a picnic table at a local lake, everyone happily munching their sandwiches, the kiddos very content with their chips and juice boxes.

Sitting at the lake, you could tell that the light has made the shift from "high summer" to "early fall" around here, softening the shadows and giving the sky darker shades of blue that remind you of your childhood fall afternoons. The humidity has eased a bit, and the air was easy to breathe. I reminded myself once again that this - this afternoon, this picnic lunch, this time with the family and kids - was why J and I moved back to this area. We left a large, economically thriving city with a ton of culture and diversity, and I know many of our friends thought we were nuts.

But this. This is why we left that city. This lazy afternoon where we didn't have to drive 30 minutes to get to a nice lake. This clean, breathable air that reminds you only that fall is on the way, and is not reminiscent of industry and landfills. This environment where I don't feel I need to be the hoverparent, and where in fact that is out of the ordinary. Where I can lose sight of the kiddos for a few minutes and not feel worry and panic descend on me immediately. These things have such value to me.

After spending a couple of hours at the lake, the kiddos playing with some friends, J and I enjoying a talk with some other parents who have become friends, I finally shook the funk I woke up with. Sometimes I just need to remind myself that I'm exactly where I need to be right now. This is the life I live, and I'm so lucky that it is the life I want to live.