Contrast

Over the past several years, I have really come to appreciate contrast in life.  The winter makes me appreciate the summer more.  The loud house makes me appreciate the quiet.  The busyness makes me appreciate the calm.  And vice versa.

The summer helps me to appreciate the winter...so do my kids.

My kids are typically good sleepers, but recently, we have had a string of sleepless nights.  In the middle of the night, we have heard screams of "My knee hurts!" (growing pains?)  "I'm wet!!!" (Pull-up failed.)  "I can't find Sasha!"  (The babydoll.  Seriously?!)  And "I spit up!"  (I would have said "puked"...all over the bed and floor and IN the bedframe...twice.)  So when I went to bed last night and didn't wake again until this morning when my alarm went off, let's just say I haven't been so appreciative for a full night's sleep in quite a while.

I also was appreciative of a recent great run (even on freshly snow-covered roads) after numerous slow, exhausting, horrible runs that made me wonder what ever could have possessed me to sign up for a May race. 

So happy to have had a great run that I am including this totally awful picture taken right after. 

And as good as that snowy run was, it made me appreciate the 60 degree run around the lake a few days later even more.  And on my way home, when it suddenly poured and then stopped, I certainly appreciated the beautiful rainbow that filled the sky.