Kristi Walters

Over the weekend I woke at 4am to the smells of a sick dog and immediately called my husband at the fire station and begged him to come home and clean it up. Because at 4am I absolutely consider doggy diarrhea to be a life threatening emergency.

And this morning in the before school chaos, the dog did another big no no on the rug to cover up the scent of her doggy cousins that visited this weekend. And moving the couch and chairs and hauling rugs out before breakfast just makes me grumpy. And I hate it when grocery stores play super sad songs that make me want to cry in the cereal aisle. And the lady at the Office Depot called me Ma'am and said she'd see me again next week... because she just knew. Because this has been our dance - about 5 times in the last week for school supplies. And just so you know, there are no turquoise folders in the city of Dallas for 5th period language arts. I settled on a blue folder and a roll of turquoise duck tape and just gonna tell Christopher to go to town with it. And yesterday I relayed a kindness to someone... you know... because it's just the right thing to do. But sometimes people are - just people, like me - or maybe this one is just an arse.

So today I am a little frustrated. And still wearing the same sweaty clothes I taught 3 classes in this morning. But now they're dry. I'm a ball of emotion today.

But my goal is always to find the story - maybe one of those beauty in the everyday ones I like to write. Because I've been on a regular search for those moments lately. And by looking with both eyes and heart, it's amazing what I find.

So I looked past the obvious and saw a husband that ran home to save me from one of life's uglier jobs. And I remembered other times that firemen friends have come over - to rescue a kid from a locked room, and even to test me for heart palpitations. Because at that very moment I swore my life was flashing before my eyes. Turns out that's just a symptom of motherhood and they suggested I drink a glass of wine.

And I know that in the end, it's the response that matters. That's the good stuff. The security of having a network of family and friends to call upon and fall upon. Those substitute moms that are there when I can't be. The neighbors that see my kids shooting each other with air soft guns in the yard and call to tell me about it.

I have a friend that may be calling upon her network. As she plows ahead of me in the years of parenting teens. Showing me the hidden doors and dangers - and while doing so, showing me how to respond when I walk through the same.

And the good in all the other day to day stuff? Well,.. I love that I'm free during the day to be home to care for my family. But not to clean up doggy accidents. And free to run all over town looking for ONE single turquoise folder, because there are plenty of people who would love to be out and about like that. And I can consider rudeness as, well, just rudeness... and maybe the mark of the true person. Maybe a door I need to see closed for my good. Because there has to be something better on the other side.