Gratitude Practice 2020 Day 68: A Strangely Shaped Triangle Box

Sometime during the first week of December 2019, I picked up a gingerbread house making kit from Trader Joe's, like I do every year, because that is what a good mama does at the beginning of the holiday season, right? This strangely shaped triangle box bounced around the back of my car for a few days before it actually made it inside my house. Then this strangely triangle shaped box moved from the counter to the table to the pantry then back to the counter several times as our over the top holiday schedule continued to get the better of my best laid plans. My well intentions for this sugary holiday craft inspired me to pack the strangely shaped triangle box with us on our road trip to our family VACA to California. I moved it from our pantry to the back of my car (again) to our condo thinking that sometime during the week we would open it up and experience the magic of sugar filled holiday themed architecture. NOPE. At the end of our stay, I moved the strangely shaped triangle box back to my car and transported it through California, across the state of Nevada and back to home sweet home. This silly box. This silly project. This strangely shaped triangle box has lurked throughout and even haunted in my life for months. Always had the will. Rarely had the time. Never had the energy…until yesterday.

Somehow it just seemed fitting that during a global pandemic and after a 5.7 scale earthquake with an afternoon of unsettling aftershocks…it seemed like it was finally time to rip open that strangely shaped triangle box and help my darling Sarah Kate create the perfect sugary gingerbread house of her dreams. You know…in the middle of March…after one of the most stressful days I can remember…we were finally ready to construct and create with pink and oranges frosting…because why wouldn’t we?

So. Last night and today and probably for the rest of my days….the totally exhausted, shaken to the core, can’t decide which apocalyptic event to think about first, trying to pre-school as I work from home, totally frazzled yet somehow holding it together version of me…is super grateful for the…overly ambition, just trying to make positive memories but clearly could not pull it off in December, holiday cheer be-ragged version of me. Because that silly gingerbread house placed inside that strangely shaped triangle box was the perfect sugar filled welcomed distraction to a very crazy day. Just long enough to fill the gap after dinner and before bed. Simple enough that my depleted brain could make it happen. And just sugary enough to keep everyone happy.

Next December, when I enter Trader Joe's with the same holiday intention to purchase a gingerbread kit for my kid to create…You better believe that I'm gunna pick-up extra box or two…because, well food storage?...and because after yesterday…you just never know when you are going to need one.