Gratitude For A Blessed Day

As a home-maker, I find myself with my own share of daily issues and problems that take up a lot of space in my mind and disrupt my peace. And yet amidst all the chaos and din, I sometimes come across some days where I feel victorious.

Today was one such day.

To start with, my kid (who is ten years old) woke up at 4.30 in the morning. Not only was he up, he also managed to wake me and my husband too. At 5 in the morning, we found ourselves trying to convince the kid to go back to sleep but in vain.  

To be honest, early morning is my favourite part of the day. I usually wake up by 5 and relish some precious moments of solitude and calm that only mornings can bring. Weekend mornings are even better. Knowing that there is no school or office and hence no hurry to prepare breakfast, I do my tasks at a leisurely pace. 

But today solitude was not to be found! My kid, excited about waking early, said he wants to help me in my chores. What I heard was - 'I would do anything to escape the inevitable studying that I would be forced to do, now that I am up.' He didn't say this, but I know. A mother knows these things. Nevertheless, I told him to not to waste the precious hours of morning and to put them to good use by studying. Grudgingly he agreed and sat for completing his pending homework. Believe it or not, this was a small victory, considering that on weekends, the kid wakes up late and spends the first hour of the morning in playing games in the mobile. 

Since every one was up by 6, we decided to go for a walk. It has been a long time since I went on morning-walks. During the times when online classes and work-from-home for office work were prevalent, I and my husband used to go for walks every morning. I was excited to catch up with this ritual after a long time. The kid joined us in the walk. 

September - October mornings are awesome, bringing a chill in the air that heralds the coming of winter, a season that I fell in love with ever since I moved to Hyderabad. Whilst in Mumbai, we could never enjoy the cold weather as Mumbai is almost always humid. But in Hyderabad, the temperature falls to a good 9 degrees or so during mornings and it is an absolute pleasure to walk in the fog while draped comfily in cozy sweaters. Anyways, while the temperature hasn't fallen this low now, it is still cool in the mornings and we stepped out from our home gleefully rubbing our hands as the first bout of cold air hit us. 

This was the second victory! That we all could take some time off from the usual routine and enjoy a pleasant walk on a cold morning, set a right tone for the day. 

Once we reached home, things became chaotic. My usual routine began. Once we had our breakfast, I saw the kid slowly inching towards the laptop. I told him to do something else and he asked me whether I would play Monopoly with him. I agreed and we spent a delightful hour of playing Monopoly where my kid kept getting richer by the minute while I slowly inched towards bankruptcy. I felt grateful that at least for an hour, the kid stayed away from the laptop. When it was my time to cook, my husband took over and he and the kid enjoyed a game of chess which took up another hour. 

This was another victory for us. Since the past few days I had been thinking about spending some quality time with the kid and today not only did I spend some time with him but I and my husband could keep him away from the laptop for at least two hours which, to the harassed parents of kids obsessed with YouTube, is nothing short of a miracle. 

One might be thinking that there wasn't much in the day to boast about. But considering that my days usually are spent in chaos, from waking up the kid in the morning to telling him to switch off the laptop at night for the umpteenth time; arguing with him right from the morning when he takes his own sweet time to get ready for school, then arguing some more when he refuses to start studying at the time allotted for studies, to finally arguing when he refuses to switch off the laptop fully knowing that it is time to sleep, this day in contrast where I could spend some quality time with him was nothing short of a victory for me. 

May be tomorrow won't be like this. Surely the arguments will resume. Surely the chaos will ensue. But recently I came across a quote which said that we spend more time talking about our problems and very less time talking about our blessings. And today was full of little but immensely valuable blessings. So I decided to share them as a way of expressing my gratitude to the Universe for a peaceful and beautiful day. 

Tomorrow might be different, but today was better. And for now, this is all that matters!