Friends to the Rescue (by Tara)

I am the room mom for my 5 year old's preschool class. Today was Christmas party day. After staying up yesterday until the wee hours of the morning fashioning 100 ornaments for the children at church (one of my "other" jobs), I collapsed into bed. Painting the sheep for our preschool craft project would have to wait until this morning when I wasn't seeing cross-eyed anymore. As you might imagine, there was a bit of chaos in the air as I was getting the kids ready for school. But in true super-spaz mom style, I managed to make it through. I painted sheep, divvied out 150 yards of yarn on popsicle sticks, practiced piano with one child, made lunches, served a healthy breakfast, signed school folders, and even got the kids to school on time. At 8:45 my friend knocked on the door to pick up my son for preschool. I proudly sent Macoy out the door in his Grinch jammies and gave my thanks to my friend for driving since I was going to be putting finishing touches on the sheep before the party at 11:30.

She looked worried. "Tara", she said. "The party is NEXT Wednesday."

Darn tootin.

At least the sheep would be ready for the party next week.

As my friend was leaving, I glanced over at a bookshelf and an out of place scrapbook caught my eye. Curious, I walked over to the bookshelf and opened it up. There before me was a book that my dear friend compiled for me a few years ago as a birthday gift. The theme was "Why Tara Inspires Me". There were pages full of pictures and notes from numerous friends about how things I have said, done, or exemplified have inspired them. At a very low moment, full of exhaustion and frustration, the words washed over me like a lullaby written just for me. Just for this moment. And I was calm.

The overriding theme in the book was how positively I handle adversity and how I seem to smile my way through things. Sometimes inside I don't feel that way, but I'm grateful that others see that in me. I laughed at my mistake today and decided maybe it was time to go back on Diet Coke. I think someone said once that it helped your memory.

Has anyone ever given you a gift that meant more to you as time went on? Today I celebrate my friend Melissa for being inspired to compile an inspiring book about me, and my friend Cindy for always keeping my schedule straight. They made some serious good change for me today.

Sheep, ornaments and yarn, oh my.

My birthday book