Shake It Up

I think I’m going to paint our coat closet lime green. Or maybe some other unexpected color. I need to shake things up.

January is such a dreary month. The weather is horrible, the cold permeates into the very marrow of your bones. The sun is so weak and only rises for a short time each day.

I know the idea of painting the closets in my house a wild and fun color is probably tame to some but for me, it would provide just the little bit of fun that I feel like I need right now.

Tom will hate it. But I won’t ask him, will I? And it’s just the closet (and pantry and master closet…)

It’s these little things, the little moments of color and brightness that will get us through these dark, cold months. I need a reminder that June is coming, warmth and sunshine and days at the pool.

And while I wait, I’ll continue to read to Olivia each night, tuck Alyssa in with a kiss and a hug, feed my family daily and trudge through these long winter days. I’ll keep playing tooth fairy as long as those girls keep losing teeth (just A for now but I’m sure O is on the verge of all the fun) and I’ll feed the cat and clean out his litter box.

I’ll also keep smiling at my husband, the man who didn’t want a kitten but who took that very kitten to the vet yesterday, paid for the appointment, learned to give him medicine and now takes better care of him than I ever could. I’ll keep kissing him good morning and good night and reaching out to him, holding him close on those dark, cold nights.

And I’ll enjoy that lime green closet each time I reach in to hang up a coat. Because it will remind me of my own tenacity, my own need to make things brighter for myself and those around me.

I’m good at this. That’s something I don’t say often enough to myself. But I am. I’m good at being a mother to A and O. I’m good at being Tom’s wife. I am good at this. And that thought right there will get me through the darkest of days.