Payday

I've said before that my paycheck is stuff like handmade cards, a new word that Lauren speaks, a snuggle out of the blue, and mornings when everyone sleeps in later than usual.  Sometimes a few days in a row can go by and I get nuthin'.  The kids withdraw from my emotional bank day after day with no deposits given and then BOOM - I get a huge paycheck that fills the bank for quite a while.  It's just how it is.

Today was a big payday for me.  It was Parent Day at school and thanks to Miss Natalia, I got to leave Lauren at home and in good hands so that I could go hang out with William and sing and do projects and eat snack with him and his friends at school.  Tomorrow I get to do the same thing with Drew and her class and I'm so thankful for that, too.

When I stopped working 6 and a half years ago, the whole making-no-money thing was really hard.  Not only relying on Chris for everything and knowing that it was his sole responsibility to support our family but just the fact that I was making no money and not contributing financially was difficult to accept.  I had gone to school and worked hard to become successful in my job and then it was just - over.  Now I realize that all of my previous actual paychecks put together didn't fulfill me as much as just one of my paychecks now.  

Cha-ching.