This Next New Year: 2016

This morning, I reflected on what might be realistic goals for this next new year: losing baby weight? keeping the house organized? running a distance race? having more fun? Violently interrupting my thoughts was my 3 year old puking all over the couch, much to the amusement of my 6 year old. It was a fitting metaphor for life right now: goals will be interrupted, kids come first, and sometimes you just have to laugh. 

Some of my goals are already in motion: raising 3 kind-hearted children, nursing my littlest through his first year, adjusting back into the work force. Each of these tasks is enormous, but perhaps overlooked because they are rooted in my values. Other goals will require more of a conscious effort, like drinking more water. Why is it so hard to drink enough water? I like water!

My biggest hope is to streamline life with three kids. No one told me three kids would be this hard.

Wait. Everyone did. 

Turns out everyone was right. Even with my easy peezy baby, it’s difficult to be a good parent to three kids. (Note: It’s easy to be a bad parent to three kids.) Though, despite all the chaos, exhaustion, and emotions, I feel content in a way that I never have before. I feel more joy than I ever have. The ridiculousness that comes up on a daily basis makes me so happy. “I farted the cheese” is never going to stop being funny. If the ridiculousness could have more order, we'd be in great shape. 

Ridiculousness

As I move into 2016 and consider goals, I see myself at the base of a very steep mountain. I’m not going to lie, it’s intimidating…in a pull-down-the-shades-and-pretend-no-one’s-home kind of way. But there’s nowhere to go but forward. No way to climb but up. My goal is to stay in it. 

As my friend Bruce likes to say, “Something will happen. It always does.”