Perfection Isn't Planned

I'm not quite sure why I plan things. Somehow things get thrown completely off course and I'm left at the end wondering how I got here. Yet here I am.

My "planned" weekend:

• Head to an awesome pumpkin patch
• Buy a gorgeous pumpkin at the patch
• Let Hayden play with pumpkins to his little hearts content
• Take lots of cute pumpkin patch pictures with both boys
• Enjoy a relaxing date night with the hubby
• Enjoy church service since both of us were not serving this week
• Spend a relaxing Sunday doing whatever we pleased

My "actual" weekend:

I was about to describe a disaster of a weekend. But that wouldn't really be true. In the midst of hectic moments are beautiful ones and I can't deny that.

In the morning I had a proud parent moment as Hayden really brushed his teeth for the first time. He LOVES his training toothpaste and I'm really glad they make the stuff. Let's say he brushed his tongue more than any of his teeth.


Midday we looked at each other, exhausted, and said "Let's go get something to eat". We loaded the kids in the car and headed out. I was thinking I needed a Margarita, Mark was picturing wings. Of course on the way there I looked at the time, uh 2:30...UT kick off. Hmmm...maybe a wing place wasn't such a good idea. But Mark had a better one! Let's just call in our order, pick it up and head back home.

My mind was instantly attracted to the idea. No keeping kids busy, no holding Corbin with one arm and devouring a wing in the other. No noisy restaurant. Hmmmm...home sounded pretty good. By the time we got home, Hayden had passed out and Corbin was sort of snoozing. We ate our wings in peace.

No, we didn't go on a date night, but after finally getting the kids to bed around 10:30, we both curled up on the couch and watched the next installment of our Star Trek movies: Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. Mark had a good laugh when I innocently questioned, "Who's Khan?". I'm still left shocked at Spock's radiation death scene...

Church wasn't an option with two sick kids. Instead, I gave some consideration to Mark. As his wife, I want to share in his passions. One of those is Halloween, another is decorating. He's been slowly trying to decorate his office for Halloween this month, but it's been slow going. So I thought the best way to help him would be to load up the kiddos and head to the office. We could all put up decorations until the kids got too cranky.

I'm glad we all went. I had been stubborn about helping out or even having him stay late to do it himself. But when I sat down to think about things, this was something I could do WITH him and SHARE with him. It wasn't something I wanted, it was something I wanted to do for him. He'd been talking about going in on the weekend for weeks, but I had always changed the subject or made other plans for us. How selfish I had been. Of course I had "good" excuses. Two small kids, lots of other "important" things we could do with our weekend, etc.

It's funny, you think what would make you happy is to do what YOU want. Get what YOU want. But that's the biggest lie we tell ourselves. I am happy right now because I put my husband first. Because I served his needs, not my own.

And I did buy a gorgeous pumpkin, but it didn't cost me big bucks at a pumpkin patch. It was four dollars at HEB.


And tonight once both children are down for the night, I will crack that bottle of wine seen above, and watch a movie with my best friend, my hubby. And, yes, it will probably be Star Trek III. Mark is still in shock from me telling him I haven't seen any Star Trek movies. So now we're watching them...all. Much similar to the time when I told him I hadn't seen the first 3 Star Wars movies - he corrected that very quickly.

I thought I had "planned" the perfect weekend, but now I realize the "perfect" weekend can't be planned. It just happens.