Diary of a Displaced Housewife/Mother

Fash sure uses my car a lot lately. She has so many places to go. Today after she returned from somewhere, she needed me to drop her off somewhere else, because she was going to the beach with a friend. (I needed the car- it's grocery shopping day!) On the way to the friend's house, though I can't explain why, I just started singing really loud:

"All by mysel-el-elf, don't wanna beeeee, all by myselllf aaanymore!!!! All by MY sel-el-elf...."

Fash interrupted: "MOM!" "Stop."

Me: "What? It's a real song."

Fash: "I know it's a real song, don't sing it, it's ridiculous."

I don't know where it came from in the first place. It just popped into my head and flooded out.

I dropped her off at her friend's house. They were having a garage sale there. So I went shopping and met the friend's mom. Then the friend's brother showed me their two new calico kittens. I reminded Fash and her friend not to jump off the pier. Her friend's mom told me she didn't think her daughter would do that. But her friend's brother whispered to me that he was sure his sister would do that. I always worry about kids jumping off that darn pier! As they whisked away toward the car, I yelled out to them one final, "no jumping off the pier!"

I didn't buy anything at the garage sale. On my way to Costco I thought about how much I wanted a kitten- a calico kitten. At Costco they had this special pet section set up. There was this eight foot cat tower with carpeted platforms every few feet from bottom to top and a little toy hanging from one of them that the kitten could bat around like a crazy cat. I wanted to buy that. I thought about just where I'd put it in my family room. Because I wanted to get a kitten.

I.T. hates cats. That's what he's always said anyway. Growing up, I always had a cat. But in my 23 and 1/2 years with I.T.- no cats. But I want to get a calico kitten. I really want to.

After I bought about five supersized items and no cat tower, I went to the concession area to eat a slice of deluxe pizza. I sat next to a mom who had a little, tiny, three year old girl she had recently adopted from Africa. I knew this because she was talking to another mom who had two tiny, twin boys, about two years old, in the seat of her cart and they were also adopted from Africa. I gathered these moms knew each other from the adoption process months ago. These tiny African children were adorable. I started thinking. I'm young. I'm energetic (when I'm in my regular state of mind). I know how to mother. I started thinking about Africa and....

Then I started thinking about I.T. and how he made me promise "no more surprises" after that one time when I sold our house while he was at work.

And I knew it had been a wise choice for me not to buy the cat tower.

But Africa....

The verse from my devotional yesterday was: Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." I like that. It's very clear and straightforward. I'm claiming that.

The verse from my devotional today is: Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." I like that. I like it that someone is rejoicing over me with singing. I think the folks who live down here on earth with me are having a hard time rejoicing over me with singing right now, but God...he is rejoicing over me with singing.

I'm going to make dinner- bourbon chicken from one of the supersized bags of food from Costco. I did a load of laundry today and flipped the switch to "on" for the pump on the pool. So altogether, I do believe I did about 5, maybe 6 things today of purpose and worth. It is my day off, after all, so I think it's going pretty well, so far...