She Saw That It Was Good (enough).

The irony isn't lost on me.  I've only been back to work for one week, and I already felt like I needed this long weekend.

What did you do last week -- as in, really do? a voice inside my head seemed to say.  The college classes that I teach just launched, so I haven't been doing any intensive grading yet.  Two-thirds of the child population in my household started school, so I've only been responsible for my three-year-old in the afternoons.

And yet the week induced a head-hit-the-pillow-but-I'm-too-tired-to-easily-fall-asleep exhaustion, which, I'll admit, is an especially unfortunate form of tiredness because (hello!) your body seems unable to relinquish control and yield to the one thing that would fix the predicament.

One night last week (I forget which since the days blurred together in a haze of it's-back-to-school-week-and-we-have-absolutely-no-semblance-of-routine) I served chips and salsa for dinner.  Not with dinner, for dinner.  Just chips and salsa.  But it was homemade salsa with just the right amount of fresh cilantro, which somehow made me feel a little better about myself as a human and life in general.

It was okay to be tired.  Everything in our lives -- our entire daily schedules -- had been overhauled.  I had just met and learned the names of 100 new students.  Within the span of two days, all five members of our family succumbed to pesky late-August head colds.  It would have been strange if I wasn't tired.

But, of course, these things didn't stop me from looking over my house and noticing that I really needed to dust, or feeling frazzled that I was behind on laundry, or bemoaning the fact that I kept stepping in the same sticky spot on the kitchen floor, or being bothered that I was serving non-meals as meals.

This weekend, I've been able to catch up on a few things: the sorting of paperwork from my daughters' schools, the planning of my classes for the upcoming week, the answering of emails, the scraping of an unidentifiable sticky substance off my kitchen counter.  The progress, admittedly, makes me feel better, but I'm also finding ways to be okay when I'm in the midst of the mess.

Life never will be perfect, at least not this side of heaven.  Our work never will feel as if it's entirely finished.  We can -- and should -- rejoice in good enough days, too.  Chips and salsa sometimes works for dinner.

Let this be said of us:

Some days, she looked over her household -- the happy, sweaty-headed kids who still needed their baths, the pile of books beside the chair, the loose shoes at the door, the dishes in the sink, the floor that was way overdue for a good scrubbing  -- and she saw that it was good. 

Good enough.


Image adapted from Grunge Textures (flickr.com)
______________________________________________

Check out Then I Became a Mother: hope, humor, and encouragement for moms!  Available in Kindle and paperback editions.

8 comments

  1. Once again, you speak to my heart. Life can be so hectic at times. I love that you served chips and homemade salsa (your family probably loved you for it anyway).


    Sorry to hear everyone's been sick. Both my girls just got over their colds and now it seems like it's my turn.


    Good enough... I'll keep that it mind if I start to beat myself up over not getting something done. Thank you for reminding me of those two simple words.


    Wishing you a lovely day.
    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ugh, while I'm glad that your girls are better, I'm sorry that you were next in line. Hang in there, get well, and kick your feet up! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amen! I have to remind myself, too, that if we are all happy, healthy, and safe a the end of the day, then- just as you said - it is good enough. The rest doesn't matter really.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Francesca WritesHereSeptember 04, 2013

    I know exactly what you mean. We've just come out of winter here, which has been a carousel of colds and tummy bugs. We've had more weeks with a sick person in our house than with everyone well. It has been impossible some weeks to get housework done and we've had more take-away meals than I'd like to admit. But you do what you have to do to get through and, like you said, it is good enough.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Francesca, you deserve an extra helping of grace! Having sick members of the household adds so many layers of chaos and mess, so it makes total sense that you've had weeks with an abundance of take-out meals and a lack of housework!

    May your family be healthy from here on out! Hang in there!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like that: happy, healthy, and safe. That's enough. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I say salsa is a highly nutritious dinner. (And not just because I serve it for dinner on a regular basis, myself.) It's full of vitamin A and C and fiber. And lycopene! And folate! And potassium! So serve that salsa with pride.
    Some weeks are all about treading water. Sometimes the only thing you can do is keep your head above water. But think what a great example this is to your children. They're learning life isn't always perfect and they shouldn't expect it to be. They're learning about prioritizing and deciding what's most important.
    You're awesome, lady.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well, given this wise feedback, I think I'll be serving salsa for dinner again tonight!

    Thanks so much for your words of wisdom, Ami. Let me say it right back at ya': you're awesome, lady.

    ReplyDelete

Back to Top