An Ordinary Day

I slip on my husband's bedroom slippers and scuff my way to the kitchen, acknowledging each child who tells me how hungry they are. "Alright alright, let me see what I can do."

I lean into the electric glow of the fridge and take stock of the situation.  2 eggs will never fly with four kids.  Out of cereal again.  We could do oatmeal, but it would be the same as several mornings this week and we all need a bit of a break.

Hmm.  Well, yes I think I have everything I need.  Pancakes it is.

Oddly enough, they all leave me alone as I mix wheat and flax together in the kitchen, steam rising from the griddle.  A towering stack of flapjacks on plate, I balance all with extra plates and forks and head into the dining room where they are waiting.  Surprised yet thrilled, the oldest gulps down 3 before I've finished cutting up the cakes for the littles.  We all sit down together, no sounds but the scrape of forks across plates, quick glugs of milk in between.  I sit next to the 3 year old and occasionally pull a curl out of the way of sticky syrup.  She turns to me with eyes wide.

"Mama, today is just an ordinary day, right?"  Yes, just an ordinary week day.  School and chores on the list, and not much else.  "Mama, why did you make pancakes today when there is nothing special about it?"

And that's when I tell her - why, today is a miracle.  Every day is.  Every day that we wake up to safety and warmth and health and family - that day is special and amazing.  And you know what?  Even days that we wake up to everything in the world gone wrong - those days are special too.  The sun rose this morning, yes the same as every morning before, but still just as miraculous as the very first day it ever happened!  Those flakes softly falling outside our window - each perfectly unique and complex - amazing.  Those geese flying south in perfect formation - who taught them that?  How do they know?  Incredible.

We lose sight of the daily miracles because every day is so chock full of them.  Every day Daddy comes home safe, every moment that these human bodies of ours work just fine without problems - those are the blessings that we pass by. 

Today is just a normal day.  We all fully expect to still be alive at suppertime, for there actually to be supper, for the house to still be standing, for everything to be drearily normal and predictable.  But nothing in this life really is.

Today, I'm thankful for the miracles that are easily ignored.  Things like morning and evening, daily rhythm set in motion so long ago.  I'm thankful for impossibly blue eyes and even those chocolate chip ones too.  I'm thankful for healthy kids. snug little home in which to work and play.  Thankful for family that loves and supports no matter what.  And thankful for the opportunity to show my little ones the miracles that surround us each and every day.