Sometimes, you are on the phone with your sister, frustrated, one last defeated thought away from plunging into tear filled hysteria. “What do I do about these kids?” You ask. “Yesterday, they were being so whiny all day, like all damn day! So, I thought a walk might do them some good. Get some energy out, you know?”
“Yeah….and how’d that go?” She asks, even though she knows from the sound of your voice, it couldn’t have gone well, and from the way she presents the question, you know she knows.
“They whined and cried through most of it, saying they didn’t want to be there, they didn’t want to walk.” You pause, ashamed of the fantasy you had while on that walk, after the original fantasy of a fun filled, wondrous time was pulverized by the two little fiends who have stolen your heart.
The fantasy of shaking their clingy little hands off you and sprinting as fast as your exercise induced asthma would allow, far away from them. Just leaving them in the woods to find their own way home.
You tell her anyway, because she is your sister, your safe place, your sanity when your mind is lost. You tell her because she knows how fiercely you love those kids, and how hard you try every single day, even when you are brought to your knees. You tell her because she has told you, because you know she has been there, and will understand.
You expect sympathy, you expect her to talk you off the edge, to remind you that they aren’t that way all the time. Instead, she says, “Well you know, Hansel and Gretel had it coming.”
And just like that, she’s not only pulled you away from the edge of boohoo-ville, she’s shoved you, Matrix style, far away from it. You laugh, hard. An entirely different set of tears sting your eyes and you are so grateful for humor, and for sisters that make you laugh.
A best friend comes over later that day, bearing gifts. A bottle of wine, and a wine glass that says “on cloud wine”. There is a note included. On the front it says, “You are my favorite”, and inside, she has inscribed the following. “This note says it all. Drink the whole bottle.”
Today, you have failed your no complaining for thirty days rule. In fact, you have failed it nearly every day since you set the intention. But, today it is easy for you to find the miracles, in laughter, in wine instead of whine, and in sisterhood.
