The Littlejohns are facing many challenges presently.  Our property is being excavated right now and some surprises have come with the process.  I won’t go into the details, but Bradley has been having to think on his feet and make quick decisions.  Snap decisions that have big impacts on our project in a few different ways.  It has been REALLY hard.  Add to that mix two children, and Bradley ends up as one tired papa.

I started work this week.  No students yet, but still, I am gone and my share of daily child rearing is gone for Bradley too.  He is a single parent building a house this week.  At school, we are facing severe budget cuts and have to ‘think creatively’ to problem solve a few issues.  It will be interesting.  I also had to make a difficult decision at work based on my family’s needs which set off a chain of events that are making me uncomfortable in a place where I usually feel so empowered and embraced.  Bradley and I have both come dragging home at the end of each day, worn out with little left for one another.  So, this evening, I decided to embrace the melancholy.  I did the dishes, tidied up the kitchen, wiped down counters, put away laundry (because a messy house  would be one thing to make me feel even worse) and hopped into the shower.  I crawled into bed, all set up to feel awful.

Then I started thinking about my new (and so far WONDERFUL) principal today and her message about these ‘dark times’ we are facing as public schools.  She spoke about finding opportunities to raise one another up, to look at the situation from a different point of view, to find the light in our present situation.  I am a believer in the silver lining.  The glass is always half full.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.

I was thinking all of this when I became aware of what was happening in my living room.  While I had decided to succumb to sadness, my exhausted husband had gathered our babies around him for stories.  He sat there reading book after book to the kids, sounding out words with Gigi and taming torn pages gently away from Jude.  Here was my light.  Here was my full glass, my silver lining.  Here was my lesson.  Bradley was embracing the light, even though he was every bit as tired and challenged as me, while I was embracing the dark.  I changed course and chose the light.  I am off to read dear Gigi a book before bed.  Much better than laying alone in the dark thinking morose thoughts.  Thanks, Bear.

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