suck up and be nice

maybe you don't like your job, maybe you didn't get enough sleep. well nobody likes their job, nobody gets enough sleep. maybe you just had the worst day of your life, but you know...there's no escape, there's no excuse. so just suck up and be nice. - ani difranco

that's how i felt today. Â episode after episode and there was no escaping my bad day. Â i would like to say that at least i was nice, but kiele's audiologist's receptionist would probably say that i was lying (sorry for being so grumpy dianna). so let's just settle with the fact that today was one of those days--one of those days, where i had to joke and laugh about, or i might just cry. Â

i was going to vent and share the every detail of my hellacious day, but instead, i will just share this glimpse...

i arrive at ryder's preschool, to pick him up as i do every day, and i see his teacher outside the classroom, in full decon mode. Â bright yellow gloves, past her elbows. Â sweating. Â carrying out, at full arm's length, two loaded garbage bags. Â having just finished a four mile run, i was still on my runner's high, and floated in

what happened? did someone puke?

ryder's teacher looks at me, wide-eyed, apologizing to me for her profuse sweating (while i knew that what she really wanted to do, was just strangle me), and in her kindest voice, she says

has he been sick?

oh my gosh. Â she is in decon mode because of my son. Â

completely embarrassed, i ask if ryder threw up. nope, he just had diarrhea all over the playground area.

OH MY GOSH, i am now silently screaming.

wearing someone else's too big undies and shorts (i forgot to restock his spare preschool clothes, after he spilled orange juice on himself a couple weeks ago), one sock and no shoes, ryder runs to me, hops up and clings on for dear life, with his head on my shoulder. i share with ryder's teacher, that sky had the squirts this morning but i thought it was because of something she ate. humiliated, both ryder and i  head to the car.  back home, i then had to deal with the dreaded crap bag. ryder's teacher had already warned me that it had gotten in his shoes and everything. of course, i did as any mom, with a really shitty day, would contemplate doing--i took one peak inside and tossed the whole damn thing in the outside trash can. of course, i justified it all, with the fact that i thought ryder was growing out of those shoes anyways. the mini boden shorts...i just had to chalk those up to a loss.

ryder didn't end up having any more diarrhea today, but he did end up getting diagnosed with a sinus infection.

and that, my friends, was only the beginning of what my day had in store for me.

++++++

the wedding this past weekend was wonderful. Â it is always so awesome to see momma carmen and daddy jim (as kiele still refers to them). however, i missed steve terribly. driving six hours one way, with three kids is not an easy task. carrying luggage for three, camera equipment, a cooler, etc. to a hotel room on the second floor was not exactly fun either. and being at a wedding without your spouse, well...need i say more.

but...

thank goodness for kiele. thank goodness for kiele. thank goodness for kiele. Â i seriously cannot even begin to express my appreciation for what a wonderful, caring child she is. Â she is so amazingly helpful each and every day. i don't know what i would do without her.

++++++

we haven't talked to steve in a while and i hate that. i hate not being able to pick up the phone, when i want to share. when i'm having a bad day. when i just want to chat. it's completely out of my control. i leave the computer on, wondering if tonight is going to be the night...the night when he skypes in and we try to sum up  multiple days into one 20 minute conversation, shared between four. and then another night comes and goes with nothing. but, whether we like it or not, this is something that we, military spouses, with deployed husbands/wives, must come to terms with; it's a reality of this whole deployment business.

i close with a photo from this weekend. Â kiele as a flower girl and the little ones adoring their sister (they really do!).

and here's to tomorrow being a less shitty day, sucking up and being nice :-)