Like I Always Imagined

There are so many times in life when things don't turn out like you had imagined. Whether it be a recipe flopping, your career not satisfying you like you had hoped, a bad hair cut or a number of any other things. And then there's motherhood.

I don't know if any of us really know what to expect going into motherhood. Really, how can you? Until you've been a mother yourself, there's just no real way to know what's coming. But we still have images of what life will be like. We make statements like "My child will never behave that way". Then our worlds are turned upside down when the little bundle of joy arrives and at times we're forced to eat our words and see the image we have of what things would be like crumble. I know I never imagined the bickering that would occur with my husband when we were both sleep deprived during the first month. I never imagined the stretch marks that now stand as my "battle wounds". Yes, there are many things that are not as I had imagined they would be.

But every now and then, if you're lucky, some things turn out just as you had hoped. Wednesday night we let Bailey stay up past her bedtime so we could watch Rudolph. Being the Christmas lover that I am, I still love this movie as much as I did when I was little and look forward to watching it every year. It worked out perfectly because Nick finished class early that evening and was able to join us on the couch for the viewing. Granted, he wasn't quite as excited as I was, but he put on a good face. We turned off the light so the room was only lit by the Christmas tree and we all snuggled on the couch and watched Rudolph. Bailey loved it! She followed along really well, and knew the characters because we've been reading the story of Rudolph quite often the last couple of weeks. Bailey was all snuggled next to me, Nick fell asleep and the dog was asleep on the other side of me. Yeah, this is something I had always imagined. And in the moment it felt 100 times better than I ever thought possible. So sometimes things do happen just like you thought they would. Even if they are as simple as enjoying a Christmas classic with your family, it's a feeling and moment you'll never forget.