the power of song

This past weekend was one of those weekends when we were all tired and a little grumpy, and like you're trying to just get through each moment rather than enjoy it.  Parts of it were still a lot of fun- a birthday party on Saturday, visiting a friend on Sunday.  But. Exhausting, challenging.  It felt like Zach and I were just trading the kids back and forth, trying to give each other a break and counting down to our next one at the same time.

Not surprisingly, Monday morning didn't go so great, either.  Despite a decent night of sleep, I was still all sorts of exhausted upon waking.  Thanks to DST the kids actually "sleept in" till 6:30am, which was nice but left a shorter window for getting ready for school.  And there's the general crappy feeling of Zach already having to go back to SF for work after a short weekend of being too busy and tired to really get to spend much real time together.

Long story short, I was feeling pretty annoyed by the time I got the kids in the car to drop D off at school.  While still in the driveway D asked me to put on "the new OK Go video," with which he has been obsessed lately (it is a pretty kick-ass video and song).  I have the song downloaded on my phone and he's asked to listen to it pretty much every time we're in the car.  I put it on mainly to keep him from whining and started driving with a dark cloud firmly over my mood.

We were just a few blocks away when I heard D's voice singing along to the words of the song.  I often sing along to it myself, but this was the first time I heard him sing in the car at all, to this particular song or any (in fact, the only other time I've even heard him sing spontaneously like this was a couple weeks ago when he started singing Puff the Magic Dragon while playing one day).  He didn't get all the words, but didn't seem bothered by this.  He just did his best, singing some words clearly, others a little garbled, his sweet, small, adorable voice just singing for fun.  In an instant my bad mood melted away and I couldn't help but smile.  I listened to him for a little while, then we sang the last verse together.  Through darted glances in the rearview mirror I saw that he was smiling, too.

Kids are amazing, aren't they? In an instant they can plunge you into the deepest, darkest mood with yet another meltdown or that incessant whining.  And just as easily, they can lift you up and remind you of all that's good in the world.