Blessings...

So, I've had a couple of frustrating days. Well, not frustrating, exactly...I worked on Monday night. We were busy (Yay...we've been so slow and losing hours, and my paid time off is dwindling...so we're all hoping things will pick up a bit). Unfortunately, Tuesday I didn't have all day daycare for Talia. So, I was up at 7:15, after 3 hours of sleep. I did get about an hour nap later before I went to work. So, on 4 hours of sleep, back to work. It was ok, thanks to my friend Caffeine, but yesterday I was exhausted. I did manage to doze on the couch while Talia watched Nemo. Then, I had a hair appointment. As usual, she did a great job on my hair, except for 1 thing...She looked at her notes for 2 times ago, not last time, so my color is not the vivid red that I was expecting. I was disappointed, but she did give me a discount. It still looks great, but I've gotten to REALLY like the vivid red over the last month. Came home, and the dinner I picked up for Cole and I was not up to my expectations. Cole and I watched one of our shows, and I was in a better mood. As he was getting ready for bed, I was laying in bed, thinking all those warm and cozy bedtime thoughts, watching the news. All of a sudden, a commercial had me nearly in tears (and I say nearly, because I sucked them back...I didn't want Cole to laugh at me). The commercial starts out with a little girl, about 3 years old, rocking her well-loved baby doll. She says something (I didn't quite catch it, I wasn't paying close attention yet) about maybe tomorrow. The scene shifts to show her mother, in a waitress uniform, looking through the empty fridge and cupboards. Then, the mother turns to the child...with a look of both intense love and intense despair, and says "You're such a good girl." (pause for effect). "Come on, time for bed". Then, an image of the child, sleeping with her baby doll, sucking her thumb. The words on the screen said something like "She sleeps on an empty stomach" It was an ad for the Utah Food Bank.

For a few minutes, I felt that mother's despair as my own. How awful would it be to be doing everything you can, and not be able to feed your child? How do you look at your precious angel, who you love more than anything, and tell them that you don't have anything for them to eat? Cole has some experience with this, as his father's job was very unpredictable as a child. As he always says, he eats anything, because when he was a child, he learned that when food was available, you ate it. Food is a blessing.

Hopefully, my children will never know what it is like to be hungry. I know that we are blessed, but last night, those blessings came into such sharper focus. I am so blessed to be able to not just feed and clothe my family, but to be able to have some of the "wants" that we have. I take a lot of these things for granted, but not today.


On a lighter note, Talia joined my workout today...I had to stop and take pics of her.