I crept into each of their rooms one by one. I knew they were sleeping, but I just needed to look at them one more time before I went to bed.
I couldn't help but smile as I looked at each of their sweet, sleeping faces. Red lips and smooth skin. Long eyelashes and tousled hair.
I gave each of them a kiss on their forehead or cheek and closed each door as softly as I had opened it.
This used to be my nightly ritual. I had to look at each one of them one more time before I went to bed, but lately it has gotten lost in the busyness of my day.
They are so sweet when they're sleeping - the best behaved they've been all day, Hubby will joke.
I look at them sleeping and think, no matter how our day went, whatever mistakes we made, or how many times we yelled or argued, tomorrow is a new day. The sun will rise tomorrow, and we will have a chance to do it all over again.
We will have a chance to do it better, with more love and compassion. We will have a chance to choose our attitudes and how we react to one another. We will have a chance to see the world with new eyes and a fresh perspective. We will have a chance to make someone else's day bright.
I was so dismayed on Wednesday after the election. I was saddened by the hateful vitriol flooding social media. I was scared by the negative attitudes of the masses, the doom and gloom prophesies, and the back and forth bickering.
Facts are facts. People got elected. That's what happens in an election. No matter how anyone voted, no matter what our beliefs - religious or political - we all need to come together. It is up to us now to turn the tide of society.
It is up to all of us each day to decide what attitude we will wear when the sun rises, because it will rise every day. Every day we are given a new opportunity to do something good with our lives, and I believe it starts with our attitudes.
I always ask my boys if they are going to add negativity to someone's day by being mean or take a burden away from someone by being kind. If adults would consider this before they speak and act, we might have a more unified country.
So tomorrow, as the sun rises and peaks its way into the rooms of my sleeping children, I will wake them softly with a smile, the promise of a new day on the horizon, a positive attitude steering us all ahead.
