Gratefulness

Barb mentioned on Monday that our two topics to focus on this week were manners and gratefulness. There have been a couple of situations that have happened this week that have made me very aware of how I am doing in fostering an attitude of gratefulness. I am thankful for the reminder because I obviously want to be a grateful person, but I also want my daughters to see this displayed in our home. I definitely think this is a topic you can discuss with your children but I also believe this is one of those "caught not taught" behaviors. Meaning that seeing my husband and me display a spirit of gratitude will be far more effective than simply talking about it. Unfortunately for me...one of the situations this week reminded me of how easy it is for me to complain instead of look for things to be grateful for.

On Tuesday night I decided to be very brave and take my five week old baby to Target all by myself. Now for all of you professional mothers out there, this may seem like a very easy task. For me...not so easy. Because although I love my daughter dearly, she is not the happiest baby on the block between the hours of 7 and 12 each evening. My husband stayed home with our other daughter to put her to bed. My sweet baby started her wailing in the car and continued her screaming throughout every aisle at Target. I felt like I was on Supermarket Sweep racing down the aisles to get my milk and bread. I had neglected to make a list (which was not a smart decision) and in my frazzled state I could not even remember what else I needed. I got to the checkout lady who said what everyone says when a baby is screaming, "oh my, she must be very hungry!" I wanted to scream "NO, I just fed her!" But instead I smiled and thought to myself please hurry so I can get home as quickly as possible and forget that this trip to Target ever happened.

Upon arriving home (with a screaming, sweaty baby) I realized that my husband had put my daughter to bed a whole 15 minutes early. In my sleep deprived, frazzled state this was just too much for me to handle and I lashed out at him with a snippy comment about putting her to bed early and messing up the routine. As I type this I realize how silly this sounds, but sadly that was what I was upset about. Anyway, in my frustration I didn't even notice that my husband had done the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and picked up all of the toys from the day. He looked at me in amazement that I could get so wrapped up in the bed time routine that I couldn't even see that he was being helpful. Yikes! He took the baby and suggested I blow off some steam on the elliptical. As I was gliding along I thankfully realized that I was being ungrateful by only seeing my point of view and I apologized to him after my run.

Looking back on this situation, I responded out of being tired and stressed. Did I have reason to be tired and stressed? I think so. BUT, I didn't have a reason to be rude. I didn't have a reason to be ungrateful for what my husband had done. I want to be a person who looks for ways to show gratitude even when things are not going my way. I want for my girls to see that we can be people who are QUICK to be grateful and SLOW to complain. So today my challenge is for us all to do just that...find something to be grateful for instead of complaining. I think we will all find it so much more profitable.