It's The Little Things

My day started at the sound of an annoying alarm clock telling me to rise and shine (I don't know about the shinning part) at 5:15am. Ugh, I would say I'm a morning person, but not that early and definately not after I worked a 13 hour shift the day before.

The hours at work would not slow down and actually, I felt like I was running out of time with so much to do and a really sick patient on every kind of drip you could imagine...2 hour insulin checks, EVD/ICP monitoring every hour, CVP monitoring every 4 hours, neuro checks every 1 hour, meds to give, assessments to do, cleaning to do, and being there for a distraught wife and kids, and of course, the unexpected and upredicted things that arise with an ICU patient....and then there's another patient to take care of...(that's for all you nurses out there that understand...) but I'm not here to talk about the crazy day I had...

I quickly sent my husband a text at 3:30pm when I was snarfing (yes, snarfing) down some lunch...it said something like, 'Just to give you a heads up, I won't be home until late tonight.' I just had a feeling, especially since I practically hadn't charted a thing that day...

Eventually, I get home and my husband had prepared some dinner for us both. Relief sets in, I am home!! Practically lethargic after my exhausting day, I snarf (yes, again) dinner down and drag myself in to bed...

The husband says, "You're going to bed already?" As he's running around and playing with the dog, huffing and puffing with all the excitement and using his unending supply of energy. He presumes to be a 'chatty Kathy' and I've learned that I have to take every advantage of those times he actually wants to talk instead of me 'interrogating' him about his day. :) So I put aside my tiredness while lying in bed and prayed for an ounce of energy so I could stay up and converse with my husband.

We laughed about the silly dog and chatted about the happenings with my husbands job. I was able to share about what happened at work and the difficulties and joys of my day. We even got on the subject of talking about Chicago. I told him Chicago always reminded me of him, because it's where I'd drive to to see him during breaks/weekends from school. I walk down Michigan Ave. and all of a sudden all of these memories flood my mind. We talked about how exciting it was to be young and so in love (and infatuated), but are thankful to be beyond that in our marriage. It will be three years in August, and we've grown a lot together. We have even been able to laugh about our horrible (Adam's in agreement) first year together...adjusting was hard, but even more than that we had (and continue to) learn about each other..

I'm sure some of you who are reading this after having been married 20+ years are laughing in agreement with a lot of this. But It is exciting the longer you've been married to see how much you continue to grow as a couple. Adam's gotten pretty good in some areas of knowing how to take care of me and vice versa...and having dinner ready for me after a rough day at work was one way.

It's the little things...like talking in bed and chatting with my husband that made my day. I love nothing more than just being with my husband and talking about life. I pray daily I don't miss an opportunity like this...which could have been easy to do.

Seize the day, seize the moment. Praise the Lord for the work he continues to do in me, in my husband, and in the life of each individual. May you be looking for all the little opportunities in your day...