Counting My Blessings

Little Clara and I went to the building where I used to teach today.  It didn’t seem strange to be walking together from the parking garage to Calvin Hall or to go into the Management Office.  We’ve done that many times before.  We saw some friends and took care of some business.  That would be typical for a non-teaching day if I was still teaching.

I told Clara that I didn’t think it would be weird until we got on the bottom floor where my office was.  We saw the instructor who is teaching my classes this semester come out of that office, the office I’d claimed for four years.  The only tug of regret I felt was that my friendly neighbor across the hall was out, probably for lunch with his beautiful wife, and I would have liked to have visited with him before we left.

Do I miss teaching in that setting, having four classes of the same course, managing around 180 students each semester?  Not yet.

I don’t pretend to have this homemaking thing figured out, and there are times and days when I’m grumpy and grumbling to myself about this or that, but already, I can’t imagine being back at school this semester.  I’m going to share with you some of the things that have happened just in the last few days that make being at home with 20-month-old Clara such a joy:

1. Leaving the room for a few minutes only to find she had gotten the laundry basket, and was sitting in it with “Fwa” (frog), happily playing when I returned.
2. Seeing her reading books to her stuffed animal friends and baby to help them go “Nigh Nigh” at nap time.
3. Watching her climb and go down the slides by herself at the park.
4. Sharing my favorite Jell-O salad with her and finding she likes it, too!
5. Hearing her say, “Wuv yoo” (Love you).
6. Simply observing how quickly she is learning new words and improving her pronunciation!
7. Going on “Adventures with Mommy” together (even if it’s just to the grocery store).   (Going grocery shopping alone seems very lonely now.)
8. Coloring together and talking about colors and letters.
9. Simply laughing together.  We do a lot of that!  How can you not laugh when she starts to tickle her stuffed Otter?
10. Marveling at her imagination and joy…

Add to those the amazing absence of stress (for the most part) and busyness that came from feeling rushed on EVERYTHING, leaving me feeling completely overwhelmed and overcome without any hope of doing either my teaching or my wife/mother job as well as I want to.

Yes, this season is refreshing, so far!  And, I see my heart changing for the better.  Praise the Lord!

~Dana

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