I think one of the biggest lessons I have learned since having kids is that there are numerous instances when you need to adjust your expectations. For us, a recent example of this was Valentine's Day...
Sunday (the commercialized day of love), Daniel was coming off of working 14 nights straight. So his world was all mixed up. For that two week period, he would come home and be in bed by 5am and then up some time after lunch to squeeze in precious moments with us before heading back to work.
All of you who work nights (my sister included), hats off to you for making this lifestyle work. It was an exhausting two weeks! And not just for Daniel. I don't sleep well when I know Daniel has to drive 65 minutes home after working all night, then I would have to get up and juggle most of the parental responsibilities. Not an easy two weeks for any of us.
Anyways, on Sunday I woke up and wrangled the boys out the door for church while Daniel got caught up on his sleep. We came home and snacked instead of eating a real lunch, then headed out for an early dinner at El Metate (a local fave on our mountain).
Evidently Mexican is not a romantic enough dinner, as we easily got a table for the four of us. After our fill of burritos for the boys and fajitas for us, we headed home to get the boys in bed.
Once our boys were tucked in, we collapsed on the couch with a chocolate mug cake and ice cream that I threw together. There were no cards, no flowers, no gifts. Just exhausted parents with cake in a mug, watching Netflix.
As our TV show came to a close, I was struggling to stay awake. So I crawled into bed while Daniel (who was now in the habit of being awake all night) decided to go to the movies. Alone. Talk about romantic. I slept and Daniel saw a late showing of a war movie.
Tuesday night I had a girl's night out planned (the older I get, the more I appreciate these nights out). One of my friends ordered a dessert to take home to her husband and I thought that was a sweet gesture. So I ordered one as well.
It still wasn't Valentines day, but sometimes special, unexpected treats are even better. When I got home, the boys were already in bed so I made Daniel and I decaf lattes and we shared the tiramisu.
Such is life. It's not always what you think it ought to be, but if you take the time, you can still share sweet moments together.
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