Waffles, Ice Cream and Spirit

I read somewhere, in an article about coping when a military spouse is deployed, that it is okay to have waffles and ice cream for dinner. So what does this mean? Because my spouse is gone, it's okay to not eat so good? It's okay to not care about my kids nutrition? Or even that maybe it's the only thing that tastes good, so nah.

Well, while I wouldn't put complete truths into anything but that last one (my healthy cooking always tastes good!), the truth of the matter is, it's okay not to get everything done. It's okay to be mellow. It's okay to take a day or two during the week and not feel the need to prepare a hot dinner that takes an hour or so to make (that's the norm when I cook). Hey, this statement doesn't even stop at food. It's okay not to have the house white glove clean. It's okay to skip the vacuuming for just one day (or two or three). What about the laundry. As long as everyone has something clean to wear, it will still be there tomorrow.

Who is watching this Martha Stewart life I'm attempting to create for myself? I have yet to catch my neighbors peering into my house through the grime on the windows. The friends I do have who come over don't seem to mind, and if they do, they keep their mouth shut. I've even had friends come over and help me out a bit with the cleaning (thanks guys, you have no idea how much I appreciate it!). Sometimes I need to be given permission not to be perfect (far from it I am!). If you ask my husband, he will tell you I am perfect the way I am, even if I do think I have flaws (I do), he looks right past them.

While I don't want to live in a pig pen, I also don't want to spend all of my life cleaning my house or caring about those little things that really don't matter in the end. I want to spend my time with the things that do matter. I want to play with my kids, read the great words written by others, explore my hobbies and talents, try new things and just enjoy life. If you spend all of your time worrying about what other people think of your house, even though the majority of them will never see it, that seems to be a waste of time and a hard knock on the spirit.

I say, recognize when a day just needs to be a lazy day and run with it. If that means waffles and ice cream for dinner, then it's waffles and ice cream for dinner. I'm sure your spirit will thank you.