Perspective

Last night I found out that a friend from college had died of cancer a few months ago. We weren't close, and actually hadn't spoken in 4 years, but I was still in shock. She was only a few months older than me, and it really shook me. She had 2 little kids that are now 3 and 5 and a husband trying to hold their family together. It gave me some perspective and some serious gratitude for what I have: health, a home, family, friends, and the cutest darn girls ever. So when Sydney begged to go outside at 8:30 pm while clad only in a diaper and my high heels, what do you think I said?

I'm not that nice! Yes, she's distraught.

So we compromised. I took away the shoes (she would have broken her neck!) and replaced them with her flip flops. Then I made her put on her rain coat.
Then we jumped in puddles!

She was so thrilled by this and honestly, it wasn't going to kill her! I'm sure my neighbors thought we were nuts, but we had fun.

I know it's dark, sorry. It is almost 9pm.

We warmed up with hot chocolate when we were done. In order to keep Sydney slightly clean I gave her a straw.

She was so happy about it she even said "More chocolate pease!" The first time she's ever said 3 words together! We can barely get her to say 2 words together, so this was huge! Then she handed me the camera and said "cheese!" Yup, that's chocolate on her mouth, not dirt.

Sydney learned 4 new words yesterday (which is pretty normal now). She learned rain, markers, puddle, and chapstick (oh goody).

I'm not going to spend time dwelling on the depressing facts of life that are all around me, but I am going to try to live each day to the fullest. We've been richly blessed and we need to enjoy the good times so we have great memories to look back on when storms come into our lives. Then again, when those storms come, maybe we can just jump in the puddles!