Life according to Jake

I had one of those days.  You know the ones....when everything and everyone irritates you....for no reason at all.   I woke up tired and cranky and from the moment I got out of bed, nothing seemed to go right.  Things that I normally wouldn't get worked up about -- well, let's just say I made mountains out of mole hills all day.  I can point to several reasons why the day went like it did. Lloyd's out of town and I don't sleep well when he's gone. Tomorrow is Jake's last day of elementary school, which is pretty emotional for all of us.  I managed to unintentionally make somebody angry the other day and even though I have apologized (twice), I think they are still mad and it's still weighing on me.  I just feel a little defeated by life today.  All day, I kept thinking of things I would blog about -- and they mostly centered around how irritating and stupid I think people can be.  Lloyd and I have a saying, "Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you".  Today, I got eaten by the bear.

And, then I was going through Jake's backpack, full of all of the items from his desk at school.  I came across a composition notebook that had "warm up journal" written on the front.  His teacher would ask a question and they would have to answer it as a writing exercise.  There were questions like "What was the coolest thing you did this summer?" and "What was your favorite part of the weekend?".  Reading them brought back memories of our trip across country last summer and going to see various museums on the weekends when we first moved here (and had fewer commitments than we do now!).  But, then there were things I learned about him from questions like "If you had three wishes, what would you wish for?".  Jake answered:  "I only wish I had one more year to see my family and friends" (back in Washington State).  I learned that if he had one superpower, it would be to be invisible so that he could sneak out of the house.  I learned that he would like to invent a dog trampoline and he'd like to get into the Guinness Book of World Records by producing the longest running cartoon ever.  I discovered that his favorite thing to do in the snow is stay inside because his ears freeze too quickly and he's worried about Diptheria.  Whatever that means.  I learned that he thinks he's apathetic about soccer. If he had one billion dollars he would save his money and get a job.  If he could have any job, it would be a classical composer.  If he was to go to a deserted island, he would bring a box of candy, a bottle of sprite an Xbox 360 with a game and controller, his best friend Cameron, his 2nd grade picture and Lola (our dog).  I learned that his favorite thing about spring is Easter because we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I learned that he thinks that Jayson Werth needs to learn to catch a ball.  And, then there was this:

Describe your dream house.

His response was "Really, I don't have a dream house.  I like where I live".

And all of a sudden, all of the things I have been irritated about all day just seemed so silly.  Instead of complaining about all of those things, I needed to stop and count my blessings.  My life is full of them.  But, the biggest one of all is my sweet, smart, handsome, witty, insightful son who teaches me something every day.