Yesterday afternoon, due to a surprising almost-70 degree day, a received a very special, sunny gift. The park. I know I have mentioned before that the park isn’t entirely my favorite, but seeing as how we have been stuck in this coldest winter to ever done hit Atlanta, and I have been stuck in the house and without a way to entertain the younglings, I am so thankful to have some sunshine and a place for the kids to burn off some energy. Boy have I needed this. A place where I could sit in the sun and watch my kids run wild and make friends and play Batman and Robin and climb to the top of jungle gyms shouting “take my picture!!” and coming to me for snack and drink breaks. It was lovely. Even when they insisted on removing their socks and shoes and diving into a giant sand pit, “which, you know, Ali, is obviously filled with cat pee,” as my brother pointed out.

I needed that.

Indiana is recovering nicely. His incision looks good and he’s got lots of energy. But I am tired, emotionally and physically. He’s getting up early to go out. He is in need of being kept away from Gracie the golden and Montana the half-breed (Oh, Cher...) the entire day. He is eating four meals a day of dog food that omg comes out of a can and is taking three pills a day plus some liquid in a syringe. FUN. I have gone the hiding-it-in-the-peanut-butter route and it seems to be working better than trying to shove all those meds down his poor gullet. Dude can swallow a whole thong, but can’t handle a teeny leetle pill. Wuss.

On Saturday night, my sister and I had a date night. Twist and Shutter Island. I know the movie got some mixed box office reviews, but, you guys, I really liked it. What I didn’t like was the dreaded x.

Was that really necessary…I mean, really? But, I am still talking about the movie today, days later. And I ordered the book on amazon, and once I discovered that the other is the same one who wrote Mystic River, I pretty much fell in love with Dennis Lehane right there on the spot. So, yes, date night.

I needed that.

I am currently hiding up in the bedroom because my poor niece is having a barfy morning. and yet, I *knew* this was coming. I could have told you yesterday morning as my brother was telling me about their day with their friends…their friends whose daughters had a stomach virus earlier in the week; their friends whose house they needed to leave early because she was goddamned barfing. I KNEW. I just did. I didn’t react quickly enough when Isabella drank from her cousin’s milkshake yesterday. I should have. But, now, expect some vomity tweets from me this week.

On Thursday we went down to my brother in law’s office. We got to sit and eat cheetos on bubble wrapped furniture and go outside and take some shots. and run around a building with crazy gymnasium-like acoustics.

I needed that.

Because in addition to what you are reading here, there are other things. I know that when you put your life on the internet, a person who writes a #creepythesis about you and paints this portrait of who she thinks you are – rich! spoiled! eating-disordered! attention-seeking! – what she doesn’t realize is that what I, and most bloggers, put online is the stuff I want you to read. The stuff I am okay spilling in an obviously public place. There are things I don’t write about here, won’t write about here, and can’t write about here. So, while yes, my week sucked because my husband is away and my daughter is halfway across the world in Israel where I can’t touch her and talk to her and hug her and love all over her, and my dog almost died, and my vomit-phobia comes into play, there’s also some more major suckage. Stuff that comes from my family and makes some stupid person writing a thesis about me seem very insignificant. Yes, this is suckage that hits me deep to my core and has broken me and embarrassed me like nothing else in my life has ever done and I’m not the type to be all passive-agressive (oh! there’s news! I just can’t share it!) I guess I just don’t want you to walk away being all…wow, that Ali sure complains a lot…that doesn’t sound so bad, I just want to assure you, it’s bad and if you were with me, you’d want to buy me a cookie. Or something.

/rant

So, I take pleasure in the little things. The happy things. The sunny days at the park. The movies with my sister. The Mac that is now my very own. The fact that I will see my first-born before I go to sleep tonight. The friends I am so thankful to have in my life, even if they live way too far away. The fact that we sold our house yesterday without having to put it on the market (selling privately FTW!). The Olympics. The photos I have taken that I’m pretty proud of. The DVR full of this week’s tv to watch. The work assignments.