So this evening I had the pleasure of taking my children to the annual "candlelight parade". Now I say pleasure, but I really mean pain in the ass. I say that, simply because it was something that my hubby and I were going to do as a family, instead I had the pure joy of going it alone. For anyone who has a husband with an unpredictable job, you feel my pain. At 2:00 this afternoon (been planning it for a couple weeks now) he tells me that the second job he had to do will take longer than expected. This has become a typical conversation in our home, which leads to the typical decision for me to go it alone, or not go at all. First I tried to convince the kids that we could do something else during the weekend....I also tried to punish them for not cleaning the play room....then the little buggers pulled out all the stops and not only cleaned the playroom, but their bedrooms AND ate all their dinner in record time. Damn....looks like we're going to the parade. So happily we got dressed.....and angrily I decided it was a "hate parade"....
Not only do we leave the house late, forcing us to park in the grungy part of town (yay!) but we had a fairly crappy walk to the parade route. Turns out that the path I chose, sure didn't have an elevator for the giant stroller I happened to have in my car. Nope....just stairs! Perfect...now I've added "hate stairs" to my evening. Out comes my daughter, the hot chocolate, my purse, all the mittens, scarves and other paraphanalia, and I proceeded to fold up the enormous stroller, and lumber it up the stairs by myself. I am however thankful for the kindness of strangers, and between the "can I help you's" and "I can take that's", I kindly smiled and thanked them, all the while powering through the ridiculous heaving of this stupid object. All the while trying to stay composed and self reliant. Secretly swearing in my head at my husbands job, or more importantly, his girlfriend that I have now invented in my head who probably works out, and could lift this damn stroller effortlessly. She's probably blonde too. Then she goes on the "hate list", and I carry on.
Muttering in my head, smiling through my teeth, I hear "Desja'? from somewhere behind me. I turn to see my amazing friends J & G and their boys. Instantly, I am relieved, thankful and grateful that through this mess of people, we happen to meet up. Whew! If my own hubby can't be here, I'll totally take yours! G saves the day and unloads me from my stupid, self inflicted burden.
Isn't that truly the irony of life? Just when you think you can't take one more second of the burden that you have inflicted upon yourself, an unexpected good friend swoops in to share part of your load. Friendship is a funny thing. It can carry such responsibilty, and yet, if timed just right, it can be the most amazing thing that two people who aren't sleeping together can share. That's pretty awesome if you think about it.
So what started as a "hate parade", quickly become full of laughter and joy. I was so thankful, and dare I say....happy! Happy to have found my people in all these strangers. What are the chances? Either way, I'll take the blessing, no matter what the cause. Because frankly, who else would have laughed with me over the "Christmas beaver". If J wasn't there, I would have just been some weirdo in the audience muttering "beaver" under my breath and laughing hysterically. Now that would have just been ridiculous.
No comments:
Post a Comment