Okay, so I’m wussing out by combining days 9 and 10, but read on and you will maybe forgive me.

First of all:

Thing 9: Sleeping in

Last night my kids slept over at their great-aunt’s house, and I slept from 10:00 p.m. until 10:00 a.m. And that was maybe the best thing ever, because I very much needed to hide under the covers for just a little while.

Thing 10: The 10 Things

Honestly. Eesh. The past ten days have been something. Or other. Or something. There have been family health crises, major job losses, horrific dentist appointments, marathon barfing sessions and unreasonable deadlines coupled with cancelled daycare. (And that’s just my life. Don’t even get me started on all the stuff friends and family members seem to be going through lately.) But you know what? While a lot of it has seemed like a big sea of poo, I’ve also been feeling oddly afloat in it. Almost as if I were bobbing along on one of these.

When swimming in a poo sea, it helps to bring your giant yellow duck.

And I think I largely owe that general feeling of buoyancy to the 10 Things. It’s strange. When you go looking for things to appreciate, the things you have to appreciate multiply almost to the point where it gets ridiculous—-Like last night, when my husband and I finally had a night off from the kids, and we made it out to our favourite Thai restaurant, and we got a table within minutes, and we ordered all the best dishes… and then I took 5 bites and promptly ran to the bathroom and threw it all up… and as I was throwing it all up, I was thinking, God, I really love the song that’s playing on the radio right now! (It was Bruno Mars–Just the Way you Are. If you don’t know it, go listen to it right now and you’ll completely understand how NOTHING could possibly ruin it.)

Whether it’s an amazing song, a poem that makes you gasp a little, a cheerful kid-art bumblebee, an especially nice-smelling cat or the joy of pushing the button on the coffee maker every morning, there really is a whole lot of happy in the little things in life—-IF you can remember to look for it, which I hope I’ll continue to do.

And with that thought, I’m off to take a really hot shower and read a book (which could easily be Things 11 and 12 on my list). Night all.