A Day Full of Empty

When I was a junior in high school, my English teacher had us write in our journals several times each week and would often call on several students to read aloud what they had written. Early on in the year she seemed to catch on that one particular student (not me) never had anything worthwhile to write about except that he had nothing to write about. She called on him often and it seemed that he always wrote about how he had nothing to write about. That's what I often feel like when I sit down here to fill you in on the happenings of our day. Some days there's just not much to tell or at least not much that I should tell. But still I try to find joy in the simple things of our lives here. Today a package arrived in a large box and, after it was opened and the girls discovered it was nothing exciting for them, the box became the greatest toy ever to enter our home! Lainey asked if she could have it and when I told her she could, I heard her run down the hall saying, "Come on Sarah Grace, this can be part of our plan!" I wonder, no pun intended, when we lose that sense of wonder. As I was closing their door at bedtime tonight, I saw Lainey pick the box up again and say, "I know I'm going to sleep with this box!" Who knows what adventures she's had in there since we said good night? This morning I discovered that Sarah Grace is indeed a true optimist. She got some oatmeal out of the pantry for breakfast this morning and wanted to tell me that the box was empty. Instead she said, "The box is full of empty." I said, "Oh my little optimist! Even when it's empty, it's full!" I guess that's what some days are like around here. Even when they seem empty and meaningless, they're full; we just have to know what they're full of! I thought Abby had embraced my eating tomatoes and garlic again as I had certainly embraced them, but it seems that it is not yet to be. At least not yet to be with spaghetti. She has cried the bulk of the day and has not been a fun little baby to be around. So for now, I shall put away my tomato sauces and pastes, my garlic cloves and garlic powder and pray that by doing so, a full night's rest might come my way yet again! I daresay I've missed the full night's rest much more than I'll miss the passing joy a plate of pasta might bring!

Closing out my writings about nothing until "nothing" comes to me again tomorrow! Good night!