sweetday.

sundays have long been my favorite day.

i used to love tuesdays, when musicboy's letters from far across the sea would arrive.  before that, it was thursdays because it was the weekday that, at its close, told me that i had survived the week (my thursdays are becoming very much like this again). 

but since the phd program began, and the chaos descended and made itself at home, it has been sunday.

sundays aren't my funday, despite what the bangles say.  no, they are literally my day of rest.  musicboy and i do nothing--NOTHING--remotely connected to what we do all day every day for the rest of the week.  well, i'll concede that i often check my email later in the day as i'm preparing for monday, but that's it.

no grading. no reading. no practicing. no planning. no nothing.

it is bliss. it is my favorite day.

we've gotten a new calling (or, for those of you not down with mormonspeak, an assignment) at church. for the past few sundays, then, we've been working in the nursery.  after the first meeting, where families are together, the next two hours parents drop off their children, ages 18 months to 12 years old, in primary. the nursery is where the 18 month old to 3 year old crowd hang out.

and that's where we serve.

i love it.  i genuinely love it. not for the reasons you might expect, but because i think it's an assignment calculated to show me what i'm good at and what i'm...not so good at. today, we had a mega non-sharing day. every kid seemed to want to pick a fight with every other kid.  so, i took two kids who were fighting over toys and showed them how to take turns. and before i knew it, the kid who was the worst offender was offering the toy when it was his friend's turn.

that's success right there.

i have also learned that i have absolutely no patience with children who are bullies or who don't listen. for the ones who know that they are doing something wrong, have just seen you tell another child not to do it, yet look at you with the little gleam in their eyes and do it anyway. they just dare you to stop them. i can't tolerate that at all.

but i have also learned that my heart melts for a crying child, especially the one we have who doesn't talk in any discernable words. she signs, and she makes noises that sound like they must mean something to her, but she doesn't talk.  she's my favorite. i'm not afraid to say it.  and she clings to me like i am her security blanket, sitting on my lap during lesson time and not straying far away during the rest of the time.  i told her today that i couldn't wait until she started just talking in paragraphs, because it's going to be an amazing thing.

serving there brings a lot of sweetness to my sundays.

but so does having the time and the inclination to just watch a movie with my husband, to hug him as much as i want, to have the unhurried, unrushed time that helps us to remember why we love each other so much.

sundays are my favorite day, by far.  right now, raspberry bars are in the oven, musicboy is playing bach by memory on the keyboard, and a good friend is on her way over to play games and eat dinner.

today was exactly what i needed. today, i am content.