Years and years (and years) ago, I used to frequently write Inspiration Sundays posts. It was a place for me to share things I found meaningful or that were important or pretty to me. I have brought them back every October as a chance to fill up that Blogtober calendar, but I’ve struggled to find a purpose to them.
This year, I had the idea to focus on one small thing each week.
This week, it’s little joys.
As Nabela (if you don’t follow her on Instagram, what are you doing?!) says, there is a pocket of peace inside of each day, even when things are hard. And she’s right!
Let me tell you about my week.
We had Forrest’s birthday (yay!) and then he got sick the day after (boo!). I knew he was going to get sick once he started school. He’s 5, that’s just what kids that age do! But I expected it to be 1) longer than 2 weeks in school and 2) not quite as bad as it is. He had a fever and a very runny nose. On Saturday, I waffled and finally called his pediatrician to have him tested for Covid19. My suspicion is that he doesn’t have Covid19; the reason why it is so hard to spot in kids though is because kids symptoms aren’t the same as adults. Kids, especially small children, get fevers for everything: allergic reactions, average colds, because their body feels like it. They just get fevers! So it’s hard to distinguish a Covid19 fever from a “this is normal for my kid” fever, especially in a kid (like Forrest) who is prone to fevers anyway.
(On that note, I am also prone to fevers. When I had chronic UTIs in college, I think I had a low grade fever every single day for probably 8 or 9 months.)
That’s been the last few days and it’s tough! I’m considering what it will mean if he does test positive and we have to quarantine for 14 days. I’m trying not to panic about it. I’m trying not to feel bad about having him around my parents, who I really don’t want to get sick.
But amongst all this worry, and Fo being sick, there has been so many little joys. Let me list them:
Watching Lego Movie in bed with him Saturday night and having him fall asleep beside me almost immediately
Making pumpkin muffins together on Friday afternoon
Picking up his favorite dinner after school on Wednesday
Watching him play with his cousins at his birthday party
His excitement when he got Grouch Couch for his birthday after asking for it every single time we went to Target for 2 months
Planting my pumpkin patch in Animal Crossing
Placing a special Target pick up order for today specifically so we can make chili cheese fries and dip
In my newsletter on Monday, I wrote about finding joy in frivolous things and I wanted to share that here as well: I hope you find joy today and every day. Things are hard. The news is weird. The world feels overwhelming. But I have found that the more I am able to disconnect and find joy in each day, the happier I am—and the more able I am to focus in on the news when I need to and get actual work done.
Thanks for reading! I hope you’ll join me next Sunday as well.