Everyone has bad days. The days where you wish you could just start the day over, or stick your head in the sand and ignore the world. Pre-kid, if I had a bad day, I would just go take a nap, wake up refreshed and start over, or go for a long run to burn off steam. These days when I’m responsible for little humans, those things aren’t always possible, and I have to actually “adult.”
That brings me to today. Today has been a bad day. I woke up to my house smelling like rotten salmon. I figured it was just something in the trash, so I took it out before heading to the gym. I have been battling the same crud everyone else has for the last week, and although I feel fine, I have this lingering cough. At the gym, I coughed so hard I vomited; in my mouth, there was no trash can near me, and I didn’t have a towel, so I had to hold it in my mouth until I could get somewhere “safe” (TMI I know, but I’m story building here). I pushed on with the workout, and once I finished I headed home at the late hour of 6 am. I walked into an even stronger decaying salmon smell. I cleaned the disposal, took out the diaper pail, and still the smell lingered. I checked the fridge, all the lunch boxes, still, nothing. Then I walked onto the living room rug, and my socks were wet and yellow, and as someone who has been around a plethora of bodily fluids with various smells, I’m now assuming my dog has a UTI. I did my best to sop up the awful smelling urine, spray it down, and had to get my kids ready for school. My little one woke with a fever, so he’s staying home today. My older child is fine, so he heads to school. The little one and I get home, I clean the rug (again), and break out our trusty carpet cleaner; the big daddy of carpet cleaners that has never, ever, let me down. I poured the water and solution in and started it up like usual, and noticed there was a small drop of water down the back. I thought “no biggie, it’s just a little water.” How wrong I was. Within 2 minutes the cleaner started to smell a little odd. Then it just stopped, and started to smoke. Trying to make sure the beast didn’t catch on fire, I unplugged it fast and ran it out our front door just leaking away. My little one, who’s just barely 2, comes running after me thinking it’s a game, and slips on the wet tile, lands on his back and thumps his head. He’s sobbing, but luckily a rogue sandal my dog dropped earlier broke the trajectory of his head to the ground, otherwise this would be a much different story. I’m now holding a sobbing kid and my house smells like rotten salmon flesh that has been burnt to a crisp at a zombie barbecue. Good times, and it’s not even 10 am. I just want to start over. But I can’t.
So, I do the only thing I can. I cuddle my kid until he stops crying. Having already drank a coffee large enough to stick my entire face in, I’m (likely) as pleasant as I’m going to get today. I light a few candles once my kiddo is settled, and sit down to play luckily, not on the now sopping living room floor. After a few minutes, he heads to the kitchen, and brings me my giant empty coffee cup. “Mama, drink coffee, be happy?” My heart melts a little at that, then my mood begins to shift. As he pretends to drink out of my empty cup too, he lays in my lap and says “Love you Mama.” And just like that, the whole day changes.
I may not be able to handle bad days like I used to, but if taking care of tiny humans I adore is the trade off, I will choose that any day of the week, even if it is hard, and complicates…well, pretty much everything.
Hope your day started better than mine. Keep on keeping on, and happy parenting!
Had a day comparable to mine? Tell us about your bad days in the comments!
