I am dragging today. It’s not even 7 o’clock in the morning and I’m really looking forward to bed time. One of those mornings.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m feeling threadbare, snapping is easy. It’s more like ripping. And all the ugly escapes: frustration, yelling, impatience.

This morning, this long, dark morning, the ugly was just starting to show through the tears in my mommy-fabric, when the girls had a moment.

What is that I hear? More crying? GAH! Why me?! Why can’t those girls just get along? All I asked them to do was get dressed. Can I just go back to bed? Girls, come here right…

Wait? That’s giggling? Singing? What is going on?

Cuteness.

That’s what’s going on.

Reading a Frozen book, and singing “Let it go” at the top of their lungs (sorry still-sleeping Corey and Dom Dom).

 A moment of ridiculous cuteness.

And this, even more than the sleep deprivation, even more than the yelling and lost-patience, this is the patchwork of my life: a collection of adorable moments.

 If I take the time to see them, these moments save me from the depths of self-pity.

And when I can stitch my threadbare sanity back together with these moments, then I know I can make it to bed time with a little less ripping and a little more love.

…

Coffee helps too.