Mother's Day Washing Machines And Sick Kiddos

I've been fantasizing about a new washer and dryer, more-so a new washer, for at least 2 years. Every time I think we have money for it, life happens. There is a medical or car-related issue, or something life-wise comes first.

My mom does her laundry at my house. Since Christmas she has been ruthlessly nagging about my crappy appliances. This irks me to no end for a laundry list, pun intended, of reasons. First, most parental relationships would have the mom figure say, "Hey your washer sucks, I'll give you a few hundred towards a new one." Or some even just buy their children new appliances, or so I've heard. My mom hasn't the means to buy us one, but also doesn't have the means to be nice about the one we have apparently. It washes the clothes, hence it's main function, it's just definitely time for a new one. Also, my mother is anything but domestic, so when she complains about appliances, when she lives in an appliance-less apartment, it just cracks me up. Feel the eye roll.

Some soon-to-be-newlywed friends are moving to new digs and sold us their one-year-old, still-under-warranty Maytag to be retrieved today. I'm ridiculously excited about this. True to form, I told my mom that this purchase was her mother's day present. I bought her a new washer so she won't have to complain anymore. Success!

In other news, my daughter has had a cough the last 72 hours and last night it hit new heights. My husband worked 9 days in a row and is off today so I think they are both taking a life-hiatus together, with exception of washer pick up. This is a great excuse for me to leave work early, however, so I'm all in.

This is only my daughter's second sick day the entire school year and they only have 2 weeks left of the year. She's a super healthy kid but much like her mother, just needs some time to do nothing and heal from time to time. It's kind of a rainy Tuesday, too, so it's ideal.

I feel blessed that I have a job that doesn't shame me for being a mom when I'm needed. I feel blessed that I have a husband willing to chill with his kiddo when she needs some parental snuggles and extra attention. I feel blessed that we are all growing and building on things right now. It's not often I can say that.

There are things in life that will be frustrating. My random feeling of weight gain and my stupid thyroid are on the top right now. Paying down bills and life things getting in the way of life fun are always unfair-feeling obstacles, but I've been thinking how far we've come and I have to give credit where credit is due.

We have our decade as Floridians pending this summer, and I think this is the first year we won't end up in the hole, begging everyone for money, and feeling inferior in adulting things. What a nice perspective. I think a lot, maybe even too much, and I'm kind of realizing the way the universe has laid out it's obstacles, challenges and things to overcome isn't so coincidental or random after all. Perhaps we had to go through the all the storms to get to the end of the rainbow.

Mostly I just feel like, we are the epitome of things never going as planned. We have had grand designs and things have always happened outside of our timelines, but mostly as they should. We have suffered some yucky, difficult things. We've been horrible to each other at times, and to other people we love. But, we've learned a lot and are better off for having lived those lessons.

There's plenty I'm still completely unsure about. There's still cautious optimism and plans that are damned to be derailed. We're still finding our footing and putting in the work to build, but that's more than I've been able to say for a long time.

So Mother's Day washers are better than shiny new sets that put us in debt, and sick days at home with snuggles are better than getting sicker and pushing through school and work. Sometimes you need a day after the transition, after the exhaustion, to just kick back and reflect. You may find the view more appealing than you'd originally designed. And 1 year old washers work just as good as new ones, and either beats one that's been kicking at least the past decade. It should be quite a Tuesday.