Observations from the Couch

It's very strange to be an observer in your own household. Usually I'm in the thick of things - wrangling kids, occupying the dog, feeding everyone, doing laundry, cleaning up - and now I'm sitting to the side of this swirl of activity. The older kids come by and check in periodically and our youngest likes to snuggle up on the couch with me for a while each day. Other than that, I'm just watching the insanity and giving my opinion when asked.

I don't think I really appreciate how busy our family is most of the time. The 3 kids all go their own directions, play their own games, and shift between playing with each other and doing their own things. If the weather is accommodating - or if we're patient enough to deal with wet boots and jackets when it's not - their games flow from inside to outside and back again. When we're just home - which is rare - they eat when they're hungry and have learned how to fix some simple things for themselves (our son is a pizza bagel expert). The art supplies get pulled out frequently, especially by our older daughter, and toys go from upstairs to down and back again. I can count on one hand the number of times I've heard the phrase, "I'm bored," because they all manage to find ways to keep themselves busy.

While it's not really fun to have surgery and then deal with the recovery, I do think it's given me a good chance to see and appreciate what we've built. It's so rare that I get the opportunity to step back and really see the elements that make up our lives, and when I take the time to - or are forced to - I have to be willing accept what I see. I can honestly say that we have incredible kids and an amazing life and I can't imagine how I managed to get lucky enough to be a part of it.