There is a rug in my laundry room that says “Run Away with Me.”  I cannot think of a more appropriate place for it to be, for it is in the mundane, day in and day out tasks of my life that I find myself wanting to escape. Don’t get me wrong – I love my life. But it exhausts me, this life that I love. This life that breaks me and makes me rise to the challenge. Every. Single. Day.

Scrolling through my Instagram profile, my life appears so glamorous. Cute baby posts, sunset walks, and date nights. Weekend adventures, inspirational quotes, and happy moments. But there are days that don’t make it to the online arsenal that documents my life. Days when work is stressful and patience is tested and time slips away. Days that I walk in the door with aching feet and a pounding head to a crying baby who demands my attention and a frustrated husband because his day was long too. Days where Netflix and chill means Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and five minutes of peace to use the bathroom without a little observer. Days where we long to sit on the couch next to each other in silence and just breathe. Just be. But there are mouths to feed and dishes to wash and piles upon piles of laundry. Wash, dry, fold, hang, put away. Repeat, repeat, repeat until the end of time. It sounds so simple, like I should have no trouble keeping up with it all. But sometimes it just feels hard.

Run away with me, calls the rug. Let’s be adventurers somewhere. But here’s the thing – this life that feels hard sometimes is still the life that I choose. I choose to share this load with the one that I love, because I know he makes the same choice for me every day. The tasks are many but the burden is shared. Sometimes it’s easier to keep score, but it is far better to end each day with gratitude and start the next one with a clean slate. And we have learned to not spend our lives waiting for the next big thing, but rather enjoy the moments as they come. Some days are filled with big adventures and some days seem to have no adventure at all. Then there are days like today that fill the space in between. The sun is shining, aunt Kiki is visiting, lunch is being made in the kitchen with music and laughter. A perfectly ordinary, but perfect day.