Thirty days of Thanksgiving-Day 13

Today I am grateful for flexibility. Yesterday was a tough day in this household. Not much of anything got done.... including a blog post..... but we can be flexible... I can do two today. Flexibility isn't always easy. Some people aren't wired for it.... some days don't allow for it. Sometimes even people who normally CAN roll with the punches get into moods where trying to be flexible is frustrating.
I am a person of confusing tendencies. It makes living with me tough. Some days I am really flexible and fully capable of brushing off  frustrations.... and some days not so much. That isn't the only place where I can be a study of opposites from one day to the next... that is only one example. This creates a strong need for flexibility in the people around me.... This is why I am so grateful for it.
I am not happy with change.. I do not do well without some kind of plan. And yet, I don't follow them well. I start out with the best of intentions and then I blow it all to hell. It is who I am. So this leads to me saying " We need to plan this out." and being somewhat forceful about it, only to me saying "Well forget this... let's just do it this way." a little bit later in the day. This sort of flexible double personality comes from having children. See before children I would have been easily described as the most steady and conservative person in the world. A place for everything and everything in its place. A plan for everything and everything according to plan. Yup that would have summed me up perfectly.
Then I held this tiny little package of chaos. Just as I would be ready to go out the door, she would poop in her diaper. No sooner would I get into my nice clothes then she would spit up all over me. No sooner would I get to the grocery store then I would hear a babe cry and my milk would let down. No sooner would... well you get the point. It is endless. It started from day one and it has only continued. With two it makes for some interesting compromises. With so many food allergies it makes for crazy substitutions for what normal people would use. It took a bit of time for me to learn to roll with the punches. It took time for me to be okay with the interruptions and substitutions that children introduced me to.
But let's take a look at what learning to be more flexible has done for me: Ashlynn's food allergies have introduced us to amazing food choices that we might not have otherwise made. Also because of those allergies we eat a lot healthier than we otherwise might have. I have learned to take life a whole lot slower with these kids.... because if I hurry then Sunshine will dig in her heals. I have learned that flexibility makes parenting so much easier. When I start to get rigid it gets harder for all of us. It has not been an easy lesson for me. But as I have learned this lesson, I have become more and more grateful for flexibility; both in myself and those around me.