Story Snippets: The Days are Long

Today wasn't easy. Like a lot of days as a mama with two rambunctious toddlers. The girl dried her tears of exhaustion and frustration and finished folding the laundry.

Even living right on a ranch, you don't get to do a lot of the ranch work when you have two kids under three and there's a foot of snow outside. 

She thought back on her day of wiping noses and bottoms, picking up the tipped-over Christmas tree at least twice, trying to entertain two kids excited for Christmas, doing the laundry and the dishes and sweeping and mopping and....

Sometimes she just wanted to escape for a few minutes. To go shovel snow or work her dog or groom a horse or two. But the kids wouldn't nap today, and by the time she got them all bundled up and outside, she was exhausted. The littlest tipped over in the snow and cried because he was cold. The older one ran off through the snow and wouldn't come back. After she chased him down, got the animals fed, and both kids back inside, she just wanted to collapse. From exhaustion. From frustration. But there was still dinner to make, so she just kept going.

By the time her husband came home, she wasn't even in a mood to speak to anyone. She knew he didn't understand why. Or deserve the attitude he was getting from her. But today was just one of those days...

The best she could do was feed everyone and send them to bed. She stayed up alone to fold the laundry and have a few moments of peace, knowing she'd be more tired for it in the morning but not knowing how else to cope. Then she climbed the stairs, weary to the bone and just needing a break. 

Then she snuck into her babies' rooms...and her mama heart was full of love and gratitude. The little one with his beautiful blonde curls, asleep like a little stink bug with his feet tucked up under him. The big one gave her a sleepy smile and murmured "love you Mama" as she tucked the blankets around him. Her husband was half asleep but hugged her to him as she climbed into bed. And she couldn't help but feel so grateful for these people who loved her so much, and so unconditionally. How lucky was she to have three people that always wanted her company and her attention? So no, it definitely wasn't easy today. But the love made it all worth doing again.

Story Snippets: Perspective

The girl stopped the truck and got out for what seemed like the millionth time today. It was an unusually warm day for December, and she couldn't help but be concerned about the weather. If they had another year like last year....

She handed her babies a snack in the backseat and promised it would only be a minute this time.

Unloading her tired mare from the trailer, she said, "Hopefully the last time today old girl."

She patted the dog on the back of the truck, apologizing that he couldn't come this time, but he should really stop getting in fights with porcupines.

She tightened her cinch and climbed up on her tall dun mare. They were getting a few stragglers off the mountain today... the ones that were missed in the gather for a reason. Those dang cows couldn't have just gone down the road and through the gate. As they climbed the steep hill, all she heard was the music of her spur catching the brush and her mare's footfalls and heavy breathing."I know you're tired old gal. As soon as we get to the top of the hill, we'll know what the rest of our day is going to look like." 

She thought about what that meant in a general sense. How you can't see what's about to happen or what's around you when you're in the thick of it, but everything is made clear on top of the hill.

As they reached the summit, relief flooded over the girl. There was a fence at the top of the hill. Those wild old cows were just standing there, and she pushed them back along the fence, down the hill, and through the gate. 

As she loaded her horse back on the trailer and let her babies out of the truck to play while they waited for her husband, she thought about their way of life. It was sure hard some days, but she couldn't think of anything else that could offer a person quite such a great perspective or such a hell of a view.