On Shrimp and Happiness

I’ve been away due to illness, work deadlines, parenting in general duties!

But as I struggled back to being upright, we did have a very sweet Sunday…

The hub’s schedule has been changing every month, so week end time has been rare and far between.  We happened to have this past Sunday off all together, so after DD1, DD2, and I attended Sunday school and church (DD1 helped me do our palm Sunday liturgist action), we hustled home to enjoy the rest of the day—consisting of hurried sandwiches for lunch, getting to the theater to watch Zootopia…a total on-target kids movie for our time.  

Over lunch, hubby and DD1 brainstormed what to make for dinner, how about, maybe…shrimp?  Which DD1 and I jumped on board with right away, because we both love shrimp; DD2 is more of a get-along, go-along sweetie when it comes to meals, her opinion was, what’s shrimp again?

So after the movie, off to the grocery store we went, to collect all the fixings for dinner.  On the way home, we dropped the food off, so that we could spontaneously stop by an open house (one day we’ll move) and dreamed a little bit about what it might like to have a house big enough for the girls to each have their own room.  And since this particular house was even bigger than that—we dreamed about what it would be like to have a house big enough for a pool, a back lanai area to host dinner parties, as well as a nanny and/or housekeeper.  Ha ha ha!!  Like I said, dreaming!!

Then we took our puppy (ok, she’s one, so I guess I have to accept that she’s a DOG) to the pet store to get her a new gentle leader, more dogfood, a new crate, three new toys (yes, she’s spoiled), and some new treats that cost us an arm and a leg—suffice it to say, we are avoiding all pet stores for the next three weeks!!

Off to home where DD1 and hubby got to work.  Peeling and cleaning and washing and mixing the batter, then battering the shrimp.  DD1 chirruping and bustling around the kitchen, asking hubby if she could help more, if there’s anything else he needed—she was going to help, darn it.  When hubby got out the fryer, DD1 was so proud to fry a batch all by herself.  Setting the table and getting all the food ready for our dinner—DD1 was so excited!  She sliced lemons for the tea and made it a point to tell me how she’d included small cuts so we could place the slices onto the sides of our cups. Awwww…  

During their cooking bonanza, I found DD2 nearly asleep on the couch—to my dismay she’d come down with a fever (ended up staying home from school on Monday, but all is well now), so while we finally sat down to our dinner feast, DD2 was snuggling under the covers, watching Robin Hood (where Robin hood is a fox and Little John is a bear) on her kindle.

As we ate, DD1 commented on the different flavors in the batter, we’d also made star wars mac and cheese, because why not, it was Sunday after all, and broccoli.  DD2 rallied for some toast and jam when her medicine kicked in, and even sang a couple of silly songs, her spirits improved immensely.

After dinner, DD1 asked me to send a picture of the fried shrimp to her three besties’ moms so her BFFs could see—so I group texted them, then she giggled in delight when the girls texted back how delicious it looked.  And I can attest to how delicious it tasted!  (There was so much shrimp, we had enough for dinner the next evening—hubs made a salad for us, as the girls were at their dad’s.)

Later that night, when I tucked the girls into bed, DD1 told hubs that she loved him.  And while we both know the girls have bonded with the hubby over the last three years, to hear her say it was balm to the soul.  (She does say those special words fairly often, but DD1 has always been more close to the heart—much less effusive than DD2).

I went to bed that night completely content.  All was well with the world.  As I drifted off to sleep, I remember thinking, gosh, if every day could be like today—minus DD2 getting sick…simple, fun, loving, kind, I would be the happiest mom in the universe.  I’m not used to contentment.  It’s a wonderful feeling.