Tired and grateful

Today, I walked over to the coffee shop of the hospital where I work with a friend and coworker. Since it was sunny out, we walked outside rather than through the maze of hallways of the health sciences building. Little did I know, that this walk would change my day.

I have been exhausted this week, as in every bone in my body was yelling at me to stay in bed. I decided that my pregnancy was "winning" this week and officially kicking my butt. Since my hubby is out of town this week, I have been taking over mommy duty full time and with my huge belly, I have a hard time keeping up with my enthusiastic daughter. I was feeling particularly "complain-y" on this walk and feeling like I just wanted a break from everything, lots of sighs and just pure pitty party on my poor, tired, preggo self. I had basically decided that I was going to have a long afternoon and evening and that I was going to do everything in my power to put Ellie down early and hit the hay.

Then I realized we were walking through the Emergency entrance of the hospital, where people looked terrified. An old man in his car looked like he had just dropped off someone in a lot of pain. A young woman looked like she'd just been told someone close to her passed away. Wheelchairs were everywhere. Life's fragility flashed before our eyes......And suddenly, nothing in my life seemed bad at all.

Perspective.

My friend and I immediately sent lots of love and good vibes towards all those faces we passed, we felt incredibly lucky to be walking back to our windowless offices--life was good as we knew it, and we were grateful.

Later this afternoon, I picked up my daughter from grandma's (who is always a ball of energy), and I made myself entirely more exhausted by following her every cue. I enjoyed her company so much, we were in our own little world. We did "yoga" on our mats, I chased her around and tickled her, we played with all her dolls and did their hair, we made dinner and watched the recorded "so you think you can dance". I watched her try to imitate all the dancers and thanked God for such a sweet child, who loves to be crazy and spontaneous. She got a little hyper (as usual) and fell opening the door to the backyard to let our dog in. It was a pretty bad scratch, probably the worst one we've seen so far.......I immediately cleaned up her "wound" and graced her little legs with what seemed like an entire box of Barbie bandaids. I kissed, I dried tears, I hugged and hugged. I knew that I would always remember that moment of soothing my little bug. It was a night of no rest, but so much goodness to speak of.

As I am typing this, I am so tired I think my muscles are ready to give out. But boy do I feel thankful for time well-spent and a full heart. Thank you, random walk to by the ER, for showing me that I can't take any moment for granted. I am so tired, but so grateful.