Advice to my Daughter...Post 11

November 8, and I'm writing your advice post. Lots of exciting things this month, and lots of exciting things happened since the last post. Because I want to cover them, for your own memories... I'll do a quick list. It sort of leads into my advice anyway.

1) We got a part time puppy. Sparkles hangs out with us 4 days a week, and is the most delightful pup ever. We all love her, and look forward to our Sparkly days! She loves you so much, and mostly treats you like a littermate. You two have a TON of fun!

2) Mama got a job. I'm going to spend a little more time refocusing on my career again. When you were born, Papa and I made the decision for me to stay home with you. It is something I have loved doing, and am fortunate that we were able to do that. I tutored, and that was enough for me. But here in CA, tutoring is much less. I'm looking for something to do, and all the pieces fell into place for me to go back to part time teaching, M-W-F, two classes a day. I am REALLY excited, and REALLY nervous about how you'll feel with this.

3) Halloween! You went as a princess. It was a blast! Living on base has some cool perks, and the trick or treating was out of this world. So many fun costumes, decorations, and spooky cheer. I already can't wait until next year!

4) We leave for Phoenix in a few weeks! We are SO excited for Thanksgiving with Mimi, Podge, Aunties, Grammie, Grandpa, and Vinnie! We will, of course, do our traditional Whole Foods thanksgiving prior to heading out, which just means more turkey for us.

4) California caught on fire. Literally. And we survived.

We survived the 4 day power outage from the Diablo winds just before Halloween. The Kincade Fire was probably 40ish miles from us, and fortunately, we didn't have to evacuate. It was an interesting week, and leads me to this advice:

It is OK to have a bad day.

Yep. Advice number 11: Bad days are OK. I'll even go this far: a bad week is allowed. Totally fine, totally acceptable, and will definitely happen in your life.

I had a completely different idea for this post, but the long week of no power and the ominous potential to evacuate led me (and Papa) to have a few bad days. Days where we didn't feel like parenting. Or working out. Or working. Or cooking. Or cleaning. Or anything. We sort of just wallowed, and were incredibly grumpy with each other, and occasionally, (unfortunately) with you.

And now this week? With electricity back... my new job getting rolling soon... the perfect, foggy, damp mornings that turn into glorious sunny afternoons...Sparkles the puppy hanging out...I feel better. I'm working out again. I'm drinking more water. I have a lot more patience. We even baked together this week, and a week and a half ago, I couldn't have done that. It all got me thinking.

Humans aren't perfect. Life isn't perfect. In fact, life is HARD. To live in eternal optimism is going to be pretty exhausting. So when things don't go your way, allow a few days to grump. To feel crappy. To complain. To eat too many jelly beans. But then find the end of the tunnel, follow the light, and start having good days again.

Be in tune with yourself. Acknowledge a bad day, allow it, and then move past it. Find ways to feel better. Exercise. Be outside. Find an animal friend. Get a (long) hug. It's just a bad day (or two) ...not a bad life.