I just thought I’d take a minute to say hello and get some of the thoughts out of my brain.

This week has felt emotionally draining, which is funny because very little of it has actually had anything to do with me. Does anybody else feel like people’s fuses are just shorter lately?

Technically, mine probably should be. We are now on day twelve without our central AC being repaired, and dealing with the home warranty company has been a complete fiasco. Thankfully, we have window units in all the bedrooms and a big one in the living room, so we are fine. I think I’m more frustrated with how badly the whole thing has been handled than I am with the actual heat. I hate complaining about things like that because I know there are people dealing with real problems, and we are not sitting here suffering. It has just been one more aggravation piled onto a week that already felt a little heavy.

There have also been some much heavier things on my heart. A lifelong friend of mine is going through a mental health crisis right now, and for several days I tried to simply be a safe place for her to talk and sort through what she was feeling. As the week went on, I started to realize that what she was experiencing had moved far beyond anything I was equipped to help her navigate. That is hard when you love somebody. You can listen, you can love them, and you can try to understand, but at some point you have to recognize your own limitations. I’m very thankful she is seeking professional help, and at this point all I really know to do is pray for her and make sure she knows I’ll still be here.

Then there has been some leftover family drama, because apparently there weren’t enough tabs open in my brain already. Today, a completely silly Facebook post about buying Gage running shoes somehow turned into someone telling me I should make him work for his own PE shoes or make him sit out of PE until he could somehow earn them himself. And that honestly floored me. Not because someone disagreed with me. People give unsolicited parenting advice all the time. It was the tone of it, and the fact that it was coming from someone who did not even raise her own child.

That may sound harsh, but it is also true. I am not interested in being lectured about how I should parent my children by someone who was not actually there doing the day-to-day work of raising her own. So I gave a brief response, blocked her, and moved on. Maybe my fuse was a little shorter today too, but I also think there are times when protecting your peace looks a whole lot like deciding you simply do not need access to one another anymore.

I’ve also really missed Gary this week. He has worked a ton of hours, and I don’t really know why, but things like the AC mess just feel more frustrating when he isn’t here. He is such a handler of all things, and I love that about him. We work really well together when life gets messy. We are both hardheaded, and we are both fixers. We just fix things in very different ways, and somehow those ways mesh really well together. We tackle problems well as a team, and I have genuinely missed having his presence here this week through all of the crazy AC nonsense.

Still, there has been a lot of sweetness mixed in with the aggravation. I really love having older kids. Dinner is different now. They help cook. They help clean up the kitchen. They sit down at the table and do their homework without me having to beg and plead like I used to. They know what needs to be done, and most of the time they just do it. Things flow differently now. We have a good little system, and they are really great kids.

And despite anyone’s opinion about how I should parent him, Gage is a great, great kid. He doesn’t ask for much. He tries hard in the things he does. He is funny and lovable and precious to me. I do not mind buying my child a pair of running shoes. I don’t mind doing things for either of my children. It is an honor to get to do things for them.

So I guess that is my life in a nutshell right now. A husband who is working way too much. A broken air conditioner. Homework at the kitchen table. Family drama. Some heavier things sitting on my heart. A few people testing my patience. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, a whole lot of really sweet, ordinary life.

It has been a frustrating and emotionally heavy week, but it is still happening inside a really good life. My husband works hard. My kids are growing into people I genuinely enjoy being around. We have a home full of laughter, dinner, homework, messes, problems to solve, and people I love.

There is still so much good sitting right here at my kitchen table.

And I am grateful for it.

That’s all I’ve got tonight. I hope everybody has a great night.