It's easy to call a day good or bad based on any one thing. A single moment can skew hindsight. The pendulum can swing back & forth from hour to hour, or even hang pretty steadily in between, but inevitably there will be a pocket of time that stands out, pulling your perspective one way or the other.
"Have a good day!"
And that's what really got me thinking, bcoz if one thing about a toddler's day is true, it's that there are a whole bunch of good moments & not-so-good moments slammed up against each other, seemingly at random. 5 joyful minutes here, 30 angry seconds there. Inevitably, a tantrum of sorts. There'll be a half hour of contentment interrupted by regular, brief moments of impatience. No matter what, each day is an emotional roller coaster, some smoother than others, but it's never all one thing. It might be mostly good, but not all. Occasionally tough, but not consistently.
There's consolation, & sometimes grief, in recognizing that each moment is temporary.
That's true for life with a toddler, but true for the rest of us, too. I've purposely been trying to look at my days more like a series of moments...which can be harder for us as adults because we make such an effort to ignore (or avoid) the parts of the ride that feel bumpy. We try to soften the day's edges, make the highs & lows look & feel more subtle. In trying to smooth out the wrinkles, though, something is lost.
Life is meant to be nuanced, complex, unpredictable. We're meant to revel in the ups & brace our way through the downs, & it's okay if any one day is both good & bad, fun & hard, fulfilling & heartbreaking. It's okay, too, if at the end of some days, you let yourself feel the weight of one moment more than the others. Sink into that if you need to. In your mind, call the day good. Sometimes, call it bad. Acknowledge the gratitude in both.
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Thank you for dropping by. Keep a song in your heart and have a nice day. Au revoir.