Seeing My Life from the Outside

A couple weeks ago I had some friends over. Looking at our wedding picture, one woman gushed that I was so lucky to have a husband who was so much in love with me.

I paused. “Huh,” I said. “That makes me feel really guilty for how enraged I got at him this morning for not stacking the measuring cups when he put them away.”

When we travelled the other week, Drake refused to sit in his wheeled car seat, and instead insisted on pushing it himself. It was hard for him to steer, so he made very slow progress. Drake and G. Grod were the last people off the plane, and I’d been waiting, with Guppy in the sling and a heavy backpack, for some time. Both G. Grod and I were grouchy and tired, and Drake had screamed for a lot of the flight. But a guy standing next to me while I waited looked down the tunnel, and saw Drake coming up pushing his own car seat. “That’s so awesome,” he laughed. My mindset suddenly shifted. “You’re right,” I agreed.

I saw my husband and my kid through other people’s eyes. It didn’t make me a better, more aware person. But the occasional reminder helps prevent me from becoming a worse one.

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