While Barney may have scoffed last night at my gesture of getting up for him today, he got up for me this morning without hesitation as though our days had switched--a clear sign that he counted yesterday's gesture after all. So, I got an extra 45 minutes of blessed sleep this morning, and when I came downstairs it was to a sunny greeting and a good morning hug from Barney, the first signs that whatever was amiss yesterday was going to be okay today. And it was, despite the fact that I had a very heavy workload of work that had to be accomplished today.
About midmorning, Barney announced that he was going absolutely stir crazy being stuck in the house, so we hatched a plan for he and the kids to go to the local library. They were gone for about an hour and a half, and during that time, I got a great deal of work and some light housekeeping taken care of. I think it was a needed break for everyone, and spirits were much better this afternoon/evening than they had been before, despite the less-than-surprising news that school would be cancelled yet again for tomorrow. Four days of cancelled school in a row for snow has never happened in this area before in the 21 years that I've lived in Texas.
I also finally broke my cooking streak (a necessity partly due to fridge space and partly due to time). My gift today was a sweet email and along with a picture of Barney and I from New Years that I'm not sure he'd ever seen. I also made a pact with him today that for either our ninth or tenth wedding anniversary, we are going to go to Africa to go on a safari. I got to do it when I was fifteen, and it was amazing. But, I think he'd like it even more than I did, and when I was reading an essay from a student today about his trip to South Africa, all I could think is how amazing Barney would find it. It's a pact I mean to keep.
I'm not sure exactly what was wrong yesterday, and I would be lying if I said that I did anything to fix it today--it just seemed to right itself in the night, which is a blessing that I very much appreciate. Early in our marriage, if things felt "off" to me, I would be unable to sleep, convinced it was the first sign that our marriage was doomed for failure. There was more than one night where I even awoke Barney to make him re-hash the day with me and to try to dig into whatever the problem was and to fix it right then and there. I can say with absolute confidence that my tactics then were 100% the wrong thing to do, and while it would be just as idiotic to assume that all problems would fix themselves in the night, I have learned enough to know that sometimes going to sleep with unsettled issues can be the absolute right thing to do, despite what conventional wisdom might tell you.
We have had tickets for weeks to go to the rodeo tomorrow, something that is very much a local tradition around here and something we've never done before. My parents were also planning to attend, but the bad roads seem to have closed that door. However, we live less than a mile from the grounds, and I called and verified that the rodeo is in an enclosed building with heat. So, our plan is still to go. It will be something very different and not inside our house. We are all looking forward to it. I'm planning a Western themed day for the family to make things even more fun, and I am hoping it is something that Barney will really enjoy :)
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