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What Matters

Every morning as my son gets ready for school I have to remind him of several things:
Did you brush your teeth, comb your hair, put on CLEAN socks, make your bed, clean out the backpack, take your lunch, take the jumpropeforheart forms, take out the trash, take snack money, remember your instrument, get your test signed?  To which he replies, "It doesn't matter, mom."  He's not being totally defiant.  I think he looks at me in my tired tirades and just thinks, "She doesn't get it.  She doesn't get that the hard part about school is not remembering all these things, it's getting there and getting in line with someone you may or may not like and getting in a seat and getting your work out and getting the work done before someone says time's up.  It's about being kind and being ready to answer and being ready to defend yourself or someone else and being on task and being a good listener and being careful of others and being careful not to make mistakes."  I agree with him, his socks don't matter. 
Sometimes as I write these blogs I am reminded of all the trouble and pain in the world and I think, "This really doesn't matter."  But the truth is when the pain is knocking at your door and the troubles of the world don't seem so far away any more and when you see a friend in pain or you are in pain, it helps to have on a soft pair of socks.  It helps to have a soft pillow to cry on, a picture of your family to look at, something fun to read, flowers to look at, a bench outside to sit on.   Then, when the pain is getting you down, you have something you can rely on, some way to distract yourself from all the chaos in life and find pleasure in the simplest things. 
When my son is in school and hears names he shouldn't or feels embarrassed or humiliated or wants to cry and can't, I hope he knows that I care, that I cared enough to have soft socks for him to make the journey a little less wearisome.  He'll have less to carry in his backpack because I made him clean out 20 pages of last month's spelling homework.  Every little bit helps when it comes to what matters.
Today I am cleaning out of frustration and an emotional need to try to control something.  I know this may look like it doesn't matter, but I found these cute labels and they made me smile.  I upcycled some old file folders simply by adding stickers.  
 Before
 from Homegoods for $1.
 New file system.


And while I was on the site I found these inspirational sayings too...
"LOVE YOURSELF AND THE REST IS EASY."
"OPEN YOUR HEART FREE YOUR SPIRIT."
"ALWAYS MAKE TIME FOR A LITTLE FUN."


Sometimes the littlest things make a difference.

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