This has been a really.hard.week.
Peter has definitely regressed in behavior and he has been testing me all.day.long every day this week! He has pushed me to the very edge of my patience...and then shoved me right over into the chasm of discouragement...at times even bordering on despair.
I have lost my patience more times this week with Peter that I have in the last several months combined. I don't know if it's just the different routine of summer or just a difficult stage he is going through (please, God, let it end quickly) but I am more than fried after this week than I have been in a really long time. Life with Peter is hard again like it was when he was younger....and it isn't any fun.
I think I may be developing a tic...or an ulcer...or both. It hasn't been pretty.:(
Jay also had to work this weekend which is such a killer because he had to work 2 weekends ago, too, because he had switched out of a June weekend due to a schedule conflict.
This morning as Jay was getting ready for work, I felt my anxiety reaching unhealthy levels and it was only 8am. On the verge of crying, I warned him that he might have to take some extra time off this week from work because I honestly didn't think I could do it. He sat down on the couch with me for a few minutes and we didn't say anything. (Although I did cry all over his shirt.)
Sometimes life is just hard.....
Mid-morning I decided to try and do some errands with the kids and hopefully alleviate Peter's obsessions for at least a few minutes by getting him the cereal at our local health food store and 'going to Fairhaven', which are two things he asks me about countless times per day.
I hoped a change of scenery would lead to a better day...and that the errands would pass the time before Jay got home from work. Everyone but Sarah, (who was working), and Mike came with me(with a bribe of pizza for lunch...).
As the older kids were wrestling the younger ones into their car seats, I checked the mail. There was an envelope addressed to me that was clearly not a bill....but had no return address.
I opened it to find a beautiful, uplifting card and a touching type written note of encouragement. Inside the card were $150 worth of gift cards to a local spa, Marshalls, Kohls, and Ninety-Nine with the instructions "to use the enclosed cards to take some time and do something just for YOU...because no one is more deserving of a day off and a little pampering than you are."
The card and letter were unsigned.
I stood in the middle of my driveway, completely touched and trying not to cry(again...but this time in a happy way!). I am incredibly grateful for such a generous gift. I was just so surprised!
Jon came up behind me and gave me a hug. He saw the note and the cards and said, "Don't cry, Mom. That was so nice. You really deserve it. Why don't you bring the Ninety Nine card with us?!?"
That made me laugh. (Just in case you are wondering, I left ALL of the gift cards home!)
If my fairy God mother is reading this post.....
Thank-you from the bottom of my heart! I am definitely a burned out mom in desperate need of some me time. Today was not a perfect day, but it was filled with a lot more hope because of your kindness.
Hope was an even greater gift than the gift cards! (Although I know I will thoroughly enjoy using those too! And soon! It always gives me hope when I have something to look forward to!)
Feeling God's love through another's actions is an incredible unexpected blessing that I received today!
“It is often in the darkest
skies that we see the
brightest stars.”
― Richard Evans
