As we move swiftly into April, I have a new sense of purpose and motivation. I adore spring and its boundless possibilities. With spring comes babies and with babies come endless chores, exhaustion, concern, and absolute, unbridled joy! There just isn’t anything more joyful and fun loving than a baby goat. I am a firm believer in goat therapy. Are you feeling grumpy? Pet a goat. Are you blue, forlorn, just off? Pet a goat. Did you have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? By all means, pet a goat!
I worked on taxes today. One of the few drawbacks, albeit a huge drawback, of the spring season. I hate numbers. I hate everything about numbers. I hate how they have to match up and balance. I hate how there is only one way to get to the correct answer. I mostly hate not knowing how to get to that correct answer, but I digress. I was frustrated. I was angry. I was overwhelmed. However, mostly, I was mean and crying. I cried while on the phone with the nice, helpful woman from the state tax office. I cried and I mean UGLY cried, over not being able to find needed invoices. My patient, number loving, math genius, logical husband asked me why I was crying. I told him in a high pitched, shaky, ugly cry voice it’s just what I do. As a side note, he knows this. We’ve been married for sixteen years. This is not new behavior for tax season. I consider working on taxes day, a very bad day.
My daughter came home from school. I can tell what kind of day she has had by the look on her face when she gets off the bus. Today, not so good. As I listened to events of fourth grade and all its drama, I kept thinking, how do I put a positive spin on this? What is the lesson here? What can I help her gain from the unfairness of the life of a fourth grader? The truth is, I had nothing to offer. There are days that just aren’t so good. The reality is, we are going to feel frustrated, angry, let down, disappointed. It is simply how life goes. So, I listened. I nodded, acknowledged and validated her feelings and as she looked expectantly at me, waiting for my response, I said, “Let’s go pet some goats.” She looked a bit baffled and declined my invitation. She just wanted to go to the house, do homework, call her friend who was involved with the mix up of the day, and pretty much continue to prolong the course of the day. I told her I had had a bad day too. I told her all about my frustrated, overwhelmed ugly cry kind of day. She listened, she nodded, she asked for clarification. I again said, “Come on, let’s go pet some goats. We could both use some baby goat time.” She grudgingly agreed.
We went to the barn, said hi to all the adult goats and made a bee line for the baby’s stall. Once inside, we sat down, we cuddled, we talked baby talk, and soon, very soon we laughed. We continued to laugh for a half hour or so. And you know what dear reader, by the end of that half hour our perspective changed. The world didn’t feel so heavy and bleak. The day didn’t seem quite so horrible. Taxes, lacking paperwork, and poor planning and organization didn’t seem like such a big deal. Feeling misunderstood and wrongly accused, no longer felt like the end of the world. Once again, that feeling of potential, that spark of positivity, the sense of renewal was suddenly back. Perhaps it wasn’t quite as bright, but it was back.
As we walked back to the house to face the tasks of weekday evenings. Jordan said, “Good plan, mommy.” Perhaps, just perhaps, the world would be a more positive place if we all had baby goats to pet.