Thankful Thirty #16 (Relationships)

Source: flickr.com via Michelle on Pinterest

You are probably reading this at the beginning of your day, but I'm writing it at the end of my day and I'm tired and I'm ready to crash and I'm so glad my husband was willing to give the babies their bath tonight so I could sit for just one minute and relax.  He's a good dad.  He's a great husband!  I love him.

I'm grateful for thoughtful partnerships.

Thankful Thirty #11 (Strangers)

Source: antonioandrade.tumblr.com via Michelle on Pinteres

We got hit with our first snowstorm of the season yesterday.  It's beautiful-everything is blanketed in white.  As the snow began to lightly fall I loaded my kids into the van and headed off to do my Costco shopping.

Costco carts are great (read: HUGE).  I had two carseats and both my older boys loaded in along with all the things I was buying.  We may have been a spectacle, but everyone was behaving and having a good time.  Then came the part of having twins babies I have not gotten used to yet...the attention.  I swear to you every other person in Costco felt the need to stop me and proclaim, "You have twins!  I can't believe you're out in this kind of weather."

Notice above that I did not say we were having a blizzard.  It was snowing...lightly...

Two of those dozens of people did touch my heart.  The first was a much younger mother whom I passed as she carted kids out of the bathroom and I toddled my in.  She remarked, "I thought I was brave bringing my three today."  She was wearing her baby in her Moby wrap and had two older boys the same age as mine.  It was refreshing in a sea of aghast faces, to feel like at least one other person in that store was like me.

The second person approached as I was standing in the check-out line.  She asked rather shyly, "Do you mind if I ask how old your babies are?"  I told her and she went on to tell me she's waiting for her babies to get out of the NICU.  They were born at 33 weeks and have been in the hospital for 3-1/2 weeks.  Everyone she knows has her panicking about taking them out in public once they're home and she was encouraged to see me out with mine.

I re-assured that sweet mother that babies are resilient and I'm sure she will have impeccable judgement on when her little ones are ready to venture into the big bad world.  Maybe, though, I should have fed into her fear.  Going out with twins does make you an anomaly people can't resist commenting on.  Better to know that now than being bowled over on Day 1 with an unexpected barrage of attention.

I'm grateful for well-intentioned strangers, even if they don't quite know what to say.