Simple and busy...

Yesterday was a really good day.

I had plans and I was looking forward to them.

:)

This is a big deal.

Most of the time I am so overwhelmed by the simplest things that I have no interest in doing anything.

I used to take my kids for a walk nearly every single day.

We'd go to the park, play, then walk home.

It was really stressful taking my kids for a walk.

They'd stop at every little weed, rock, or odd piece of garbage, like plastic bits and pieces.

We could never simply walk to the park.

What should have been at most a 15 minute walk always ended up being at least 45 minutes.

I'd usually end up carrying or pushing them all home one way or another...

It was stressful and I always wondered what in the world I'd been thinking trying to take them to the park,

but,

I would do it again the next day.

These were good outings.

No matter how stressed I got,

I new these walks were so good for my kids.

At the end of the day,

I'd survived,

my kids survived,

and I was tired for good reason.

Lately however,

going for a walk is so unbelievably overwhelming I simply haven't been able to bring myself to do it.

Yesterday though,

I made plans to go for a nature walk with my friends.

I'm not going to lie,

it wasn't all flowers and warm fuzzies.

It was really hard!

Lyon kept getting upset and stopping,

he kept telling me he wanted to go home.

Fenix kept kicking me in the back,

she was in a kid holding backpack that I strapped on to carry her in, 

and she kept trying to climb out.

But,

Lyon kept coming up with names for different parts along the path we walked along.

There was grasshopper forest,

spider forest,

wire forest.

We saw horses that my kids called cows.

Lyon insisted he saw a crocodile in the river that ran along the path.

Then my friends kids,

they fretted over the grasshoppers,

ran ahead way to far,

pointed out the corn stalks,

put on a show for us when we stopped for a break at the "stage".

Then we let them play at the "sandy beach".

This tiny little nook of sand right by the river.

The kids built sand cakes,

and sand houses.

And miraculously stayed away from the river for the most part.

They were very entertaining.

Best of all I had my friend there.

We chatted and talked between interruptions from the kids.

We told stories,

and laughed.

It was fun.

The fun outweighed my stress.

So the thought of doing it again does not overwhelm me.

I'm ready to go again.

I know it will be stressful,

but it's a good kind of stress.

I know my heart will be pounding,

but for good reason.

I know that I will be exhausted by the time we are done,

but again for good reason.

Yesterday was full of simple busyness,

full of plans,

and totally worth living :)