There's no school today. The semester ended yesterday, so teachers have a workday. With all of the snow and storms and frigid weather, this couldn't have come at a worse time. But nobody asked me.
Noah and I sat down at the kitchen table this afternoon to look at a scholarship application. Although I know he's not the only one who has procrastinated completing this long, long, long form, it doesn't make me feel any less anxious for him. There's a deadline coming up!
After a while, Isaac became angry that we were sitting together and looking at the same computer monitor. He started screaming for Noah to click on the X and shut down. He grabbed Noah's computer and eventually Noah had to shut it down -- but only after saving his scholarship details, praise God!
All three boys then went to the basement to play Wii. Isaac started laundry, and I made firecracker pineapple chicken with cauliflower rice.
The light on our ancient stove (think 1976) burned out last night. Fortunately I dug out our magnetic flashlight that actually has working batteries and propped it on the stove hillbilly style, so I could see the chicken frying in avocado oil. It looked so ridiculous that I started laughing.
As I was chopping onions and crying, I started listening to a podcast, a meditation called Letting Go, Letting Be. The woman said, "Unclench your jaw . . . " and it was as though she was standing next to me observing.
Isaac came upstairs once while I was listening and cooking. He professed his love to me because he knew he had been in hot water earlier. Then he came up again and ate a sandwich and stopped my podcast, which was fine with me because my food was done, my onions had been chopped, and my tears were dried.
Now I'm sitting in a recliner while everyone is happy. I know the calm won't last long. Noah's working on a short essay, the kitchen is clean, and the flashlight has been put away. I don't know if the meditation in the background really helped or not because I wasn't relaxed or fully present, but I guess it didn't hurt.