29 Gifts-Days 16, 17 and 18

My gift on Day 16 was to leave payment for the next person who came after us at the pool entrance. I'm not sure the cashier quite understood what I was talking about though because she just stared at me with this blank look on her face and said, "mmkkaaay." Interesting to wonder about what strangers think of this giving experience. They seem receptive but with a hesitancy that says, "Either you are some weird stalker person or you are an unusually kind person." I hope I can live up to the latter.

My gifts yesterday were fun, fun, fun! I threw a little impromptu, low-key birthday party for a friend of mine. She is part of an informal playgroup that meets whenever our busy schedules allow.

It almost didn't happen at all though because one of the girls I was planning to invite had her baby 6 weeks early, another ended up leaving early for their vacation and then the guest of honor almost canceled as well! Thank goodness she ended holding off on her other plans and came anyway.

It was a small group but a fun morning complete with cake, and all the typical birthday fare. My gift to her was a jar of Nutella because we had just been talking about how much we love it but don't often indulge ourselves with it.

Yesterday was also my husband and I's 10 year anniversary so I know this will sound really weird, but my other gift was to let my husband book a cruise to celebrate this milestone. Yes, I hear you, "How is enjoying a relaxing tropical vacation a gift to anyone other than yourself?"

But I had some reservations about this trip. Finances are always a concern, considering we're hoping to buy a home sometime in the next year or so. But of course my king of deals husband found a steal on this cruise and we can drive to the take-off port in order to save money on airfare.

My counseling income has been more than usual lately and with the few yards he mows we should be able to recoup the money within a few months. So although logistically it seemed to make sense I was struggling with it looking selfish for us to use our money that way instead of putting it towards a house or spending it on our kids.

Which brings me to my next reservation-the kids. I've never left our kids for more than 5 days and this trip will be almost 7 full days away. Again, the guilt. So those two reasons are why it was a gift for me to say yes to my husband on this. He's been dreaming about doing this for years now so I am choosing to put my reservations aside and even allow myself to get excited about this trip.

Today's gift has been to have a "yes" day with my kids. Some days it feels like all I say is "No" and "Go to your room for time-out." I think if I had a penny for every time I have said those words, we could take a cruise every month.

So today was:

play dinosaurs even though I have counters full of groceries to put away? yes

turn the music up loud in the van even though it makes my ears bleed? yes

play in the parked van, push all the dashboard buttons and pretend to drive? yes

go shirtless after nap even though you're a girl? yes

pick out a new "yellow" (which in L language actually means pink) shirt after you're done being shirtless even though the actually yellow shirt you were wearing before nap is miraculously somehow still clean? yes

play the same monotonous "save me from the lava" game on the slide a meeellion times because I love to hear you giggle and laugh hysterically? yes, yes, yes

I sure do love my life.


If you are wondering what I'm talking about with this "29 gifts" read this post here and consider joining me in this movement!