4/14/10

Chubby Bunnies



Say 'chubby bunnies
'



I SAID, say 'chubby bunnies'

Disclaimer: No one was traumatized while squished cheeks were being coaxed to spill their chubby bunnies. There were no tears. There was no pain, no fits. Except for fits of the giggles.


And then he said,

I'm not just your average boy, Mommy.

He's not, you know. I haven't met an average boy yet,
especially mine.

~~~~~

I've been trying to write a post for a few days now. It's a Very Important Post. Or something. Actually, I have about five posts working, saved as drafts, just a-sittin' there a-wishin' they were fishin'. Or... a-finished.

What? I don't have any idea what that meant, but now here I am writing this nonsensical post off the top of my head instead of those other ones.
It seems that any time I sit down to spend some time on the world wide web these days, something comes up. Ryan is traveling for work more again now, and let me tell you, The Sisterhood Of The Traveling (Or Deployed) Husbands is brave and strong. Or at least we try. (not that I'm comparing my one week home, one week gone absent husband to a military man, I'm not. It's way different.)

My head is a jumble and life is so full over here. So much of it is good, like warming days with blooming daffodils and friends over for dinner and thunder as a reminder that rain comes to wake things up. And our boys, of course and our house (which is slowly coming together and looking so great-I'll do a One Room One At A Time post soonly). Yes, life is so good. We even have sea monkeys.

And then some of life's full is really hard and that's how it always is. Good and hard. Life.

It took me until I was somewhere in my 20's to figure out that life doesn't really ever go along swimmingly. There's always something. I've said here before that I can vividly remember asking my Dad, when I was about 21, Is being a grown-up always this hard? He gave me one of his looks and a nod, like he was a little afraid to be honest, so as not to burst my bubble. Now, as I near 35, I realize 'the look' probably said something more like Oh, you have NO idea.

And I'm sure I still don't.

That's kind of depressing (and terrifying), I guess.


But it's just the truth and so I have to choose to hold on to the right now and see that it's good, full of humor and light.

I'm of the opinion that we can do that even when the funk hits and we just can't feel good. That's okay, it will pass and, Oh my stars guess what? We have to ask for help and give it too because that's why we're here.

The beauty is that we can still see good at all, even when that good seems to be pinging around and bouncing off as fast as it can, unwilling to stick to our mood.

So far away.



Good things, always being blurred by just how fast they move through us.


It's frustrating, when all you want to do is just hold on to that feeling of good and then ping, whoosh, gone.


Another good thing is that there are so many good things, or the hard might swallow me right up with its busy and much. I suppose it could, and maybe even would, if my eyes fell off the good.


Keep looking at the chubby bunnies, friends. And I'll try right along with you.

34 clicked right here to comment:

Anonymous said...

I used to do the same thing with my little cousin (and now my girls) but we say 'chubby baby'.

Too cute!

Cassandra Frear said...

I'm nearly 50.

What I would say is this: life doesn't necessarily get any harder than it is now. But the challenges change as you age. There are always battles to fight, reasons to feel afraid, things you could avoid, ways to live selfishly, ways to be generous. The choices are always up to you.

Over time, it becomes clear that this ability to choose -- to write your own story with your choices -- is a precious gift. It is in this that you are most like your Creator.

One Crafty Mother said...

Oh my goodness. Those Chubby Bunnies pictures are adorable. They gave me a much needed smile this morning, thank you.

And I love "I'm not your average boy". From the mouths of babes! :)

I have been feeling like I'm grabbing at moments lately - the good ones that are whooshing by. Why is it that the not-so-good moments seems to linger, dawdle, hang around? I'm still working on keeping my perspective right-sized, I guess.

Great post.

-Ellie

Heather said...

I try to savor the good things, but not grab them too tightly because I am always disappointed when they are gone.

But you are right, the good things surround us.

((hugs))

Heather of the EO said...

Cassandra,

Oh, just to clarify. I didn't really mean it the things of life get harder and harder. Just more that with more on your plate, there will be inevitably more hard. At 21, I had very little on my plate. :)

Heather of the EO said...

And would you look at how none of that made sense? Sometimes I get "it" and "that" mixed up. Sheesh, I gotta run...

Unknown said...

Heather, you made perfect sense to me. Love how this post just seemed to flow out of you and your thoughts of the moment.

jen said...

ah the sisterhood. my husband has been home a total of 60 NON-CONSECUTIVE hours in the past two weeks. 'tis the life with a pilot husband. i should have known, right?
sometimes in order to remember the good ... you just have to get all the bad out ... talk to people. write something. and then? talk about the good. write something about the good.
balance. i think that's truly what it's all about.
right now ... i'm in the middle of a down funk. so i'm desperately in search of the good too. and it's there. i'm sure of it.
take care.

Kazzy said...

Love the kissy-face shot!

I, too, have written a few drafts lately that I haven't finished or felt like posting yet. That doesn't usually happen to me, but my mind is all a-jumble for some reason.

Jen said...

I love that game.

Sarah said...

Ah... I'm learning this right now: life is never as easy as I somehow thought it would be when I was a kid. But there are beautiful moments that make up for all the bad/sad/and tough. If we hold to those -- keep our eyes on them -- we'll manage a whole lot better.

Angie said...

Yep, you've done it again... reduced me to a puddle of tears. There is so much good, isn't there? In this broken, messy life, there is still so much good.

Clinging with you, friend.

"The present time is the most precious." (Thomas A Kempis)

Keyona said...

Oh the chubby bunnies. We all need some of those in our lives. :)

P.S. Thanks for your AWESOME comment you left the other day. You know I love you girl.

Kristina P. said...

My husband loves to play Chubby Bunnies. Yes, he's a grown man.

Lindsey said...

Again, Heather, you have me in tears ... yes, I always want to hang on, and it is always ping whoosh gone. The good stuff at least. You're right, though, that with maturity there is some confidence that the good will return, the bad will ebb, and the cycle will continue.
Also, you are right that there is always SOMETHING. I remember years ago thinking, well, we just have to get through X and everything will be normal again. But then there was Y, and Z, and right back to A, etc. And I finally realized that in fact life was right here. Now. In the midst of all the chaos and destabilizing stuff. The stuff that won't ever, actually, be over.
I love these glimpses into your life, into your gorgeous boys, into the way you think. Thank you, thank you.

Denise said...

Ping, woosh, gone. Exactly. You coined it perfectly. Thank you for a beautiful post.

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

well said my dear!

Ash said...

Oh the beautiful blur. And yes, it's nice to be able to savor a moment.

Like last night - Hubs on business trip as well, so after enjoying the blessing of tucking my two little men in, I got to have popcorn for dinner, in my bed, while watching Lost.

THAT was awesome :-)

Can't wait to see those drafts come out and play.

amanda said...

here's to the chubby bunnies and the good days :)

amanda said...

oh and also here's to being an adult and dealing with the uck when we have too. only bc it seems to make the chubby bunnies and the good days that much sweeter.

MollyinMinn said...

You write so well. Truly. The things yo say just come to life right off the screen. He's not your average boy and you aren't the average mom.

Karen Maezen Miller said...

t'aint nothing average about the ordinary, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

A-wishin they were fishin...

So this little line just totally made my day. Don't know why. When things just delight me, I don't ask questions.

But thank you! Beautiful post; sometimes, the ones that were planned aren't the right ones to post, are they?

Corinne Cunningham said...

Those pictures are adorable!
It is crazy, isn't it? You're so right, there's always something... but the beauty of knowing that means knowing that those somethings will probably end eventually, and the trick is smiling upon realizing that fact.

sara said...

I had never heard of "chubby bunnies" until I went on a mission trip to Romania. they had a game to see who could fit the most marshmallows in their mouth and still say chubby bunnies......this just brought back so many wonderful memories!!!

Anonymous said...

It amazes me how you are such an artist with words and camera. That picture of Asher with the table legs...wow.

And my heart hurt in this post. I'm wondering about life's hardness and about my softness and the part of me that wishes she were harder just to survive the hard. I know that's rambly and probably inane but that's where I'm at. Between a hard and soft place.

Anonymous said...

Can't remember, Heather, if you are a fan of Sex and the City, but there is an episode in which Carrie's question is "Why is there always something?"

Like you, when I was younger - and first watching SATC - I didn't really get it, but now I do. Life is really a collection of somethings, isn't it? And I suppose the challenge is to ride along with them, doing as much as we can along the way to enjoy the ride.

(Or maybe that's too defeatist. I don't mean to be. We do have plenty of control, but I know I for one can get thrown for a loop by all those somethings.)

Tessa said...

I passed on my 'sunshine award' to you as one of my fav. 12 blogs. Play along if you like, list and link to your 12 fav's.
check my blog for details (no expectation of you putting mine on your list;)

Haley said...

Being a grown up really is hard. Harder than I ever really imagined sometimes.

But the good usually does end up outweighing the bad, and I keep moving forward.

Beautiful post.

Jessica Stock said...

I know exactly what you mean. Tomorrow marks the end of a rather difficult season (Jm preparing for a big exam and my being pregnant, etc.), and I told him that it feels like the great storm is finally over, so now God can bring another crisis into our life. . I know it doesn't work like that, but I sometimes wonder . . .

Annette said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
swonderful said...

At our house "chubby bunny" is "cheeky monkey" - apparently this is ingrained in human nature, the pinching of the cheeks and giving it an adjective + animal for a name.

The image of the good pinging away like the opposite charge of the bad-feeling-mood made me sigh in understanding.

Jamie said...

"ask for help and give it too" - why is it that giving it is so much easier to do? I want to be the first to help, but I seriously avoid asking for help. It requires a some real gut honesty...I guess that is what I avoid.

Wow, I guess this post of yours really got me thinking.

Billy Coffey said...

Dang it, you're right. There is always something. And when you try to get something to get rid of that something, you get something else. Or something.

Loved this, Heather.

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