The Tigers Tail
"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time." ~Abraham Lincoln
A really wise stranger and I took up a conversation a few months back and she told me something that has resonated loudly for me these past weeks. " Life is like holding onto a tiger by the tail. Some days he sleeps and some days it's a wild ride."
That analogy came alive for me three days ago. It started out a calm Wednesday, a day of the week where everything seemed to be going smoothly. I sipped my coffee and read the paper and thanked God for the sleeping tiger. These are the days when chaos is absent and when order seems to be the normal way of things. The children woke up and made their beds. They cleared their own dishes and finished their summer work and then went off to swim without needing any guidance or coaxing. It is important to enjoy these moments when the tiger sleeps. Rest up, take time for yourself, rejuvenate for the time ahead. I forgot to do that. I took the blessing of the day and packed it with my to do list. I burned my candle on both ends working to completely move into our new house and clear the clutter in my office. I tried to be super mom and bake brownies and swim with kids and play board games. I put my head on the pillow that night at 1am, so sure that the tiger would sleep the next day.
Silly Girl.
Storms overnight brought two out of three children into my bed at 3am. I should have recognized then that the tiger had awoken well rested. The days from then until now have been a blur. These are the days when you have no idea what is around the next corner. You are taking the garbage out and the door handle falls into your hands. It takes forty minutes to find the right screw driver and in the meantime you realize that there is a load of laundry that has been left in the washing machine. When you finally get back on track you are an hour late to feed everyone dinner and you have no plan as to what that might be. Collapsing into bed, you realize that the last pictures that were never hung take up one side of the bed, and the pile of dry, clean, wrinkled clothes that had to be moved for the wet load are on the other side of the bed. The wild ride days are what cause us to say, "What happened to the week/ weekend?". The wild ride days are what causes the gray hairs. The wild ride days are the ones you look back on and ask yourself how you ever made it through alive.
Today it appears that the tiger is tired. It's a good thing as I'm tired too. My to do list is calling, so are the children and the housework...... this time I'll take advantage of the peace and I'll rest as well. Tomorrow will come fast enough.
A really wise stranger and I took up a conversation a few months back and she told me something that has resonated loudly for me these past weeks. " Life is like holding onto a tiger by the tail. Some days he sleeps and some days it's a wild ride."
That analogy came alive for me three days ago. It started out a calm Wednesday, a day of the week where everything seemed to be going smoothly. I sipped my coffee and read the paper and thanked God for the sleeping tiger. These are the days when chaos is absent and when order seems to be the normal way of things. The children woke up and made their beds. They cleared their own dishes and finished their summer work and then went off to swim without needing any guidance or coaxing. It is important to enjoy these moments when the tiger sleeps. Rest up, take time for yourself, rejuvenate for the time ahead. I forgot to do that. I took the blessing of the day and packed it with my to do list. I burned my candle on both ends working to completely move into our new house and clear the clutter in my office. I tried to be super mom and bake brownies and swim with kids and play board games. I put my head on the pillow that night at 1am, so sure that the tiger would sleep the next day.
Silly Girl.
Storms overnight brought two out of three children into my bed at 3am. I should have recognized then that the tiger had awoken well rested. The days from then until now have been a blur. These are the days when you have no idea what is around the next corner. You are taking the garbage out and the door handle falls into your hands. It takes forty minutes to find the right screw driver and in the meantime you realize that there is a load of laundry that has been left in the washing machine. When you finally get back on track you are an hour late to feed everyone dinner and you have no plan as to what that might be. Collapsing into bed, you realize that the last pictures that were never hung take up one side of the bed, and the pile of dry, clean, wrinkled clothes that had to be moved for the wet load are on the other side of the bed. The wild ride days are what cause us to say, "What happened to the week/ weekend?". The wild ride days are what causes the gray hairs. The wild ride days are the ones you look back on and ask yourself how you ever made it through alive.
Today it appears that the tiger is tired. It's a good thing as I'm tired too. My to do list is calling, so are the children and the housework...... this time I'll take advantage of the peace and I'll rest as well. Tomorrow will come fast enough.
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