They say things come in threes. I can’t remember if it’s good things or bad things, but I definitely remember threes.

Well, it’s been one of those weekends- a mixed bag of threes…. emotional, miserable, sentimental.

It all started Friday with a playdate. I have to thank my neighbor… you know who you are girlfriend, because there you are, like the rising sun… always there, always one to count on. Our kitchens look out onto one another, and with every breakfast and dinner, all the kids wave excitedly to each other. And then the phone usually rings… and then the plan is made…  a playdate! The mom and I get along famously, our kids adore each other. It’s a beautiful thing.

So Friday afternoon, my boys and the neighbors decided to make a lemonade stand. I’m always game for a lemonade stand… kids are contained, busy (not kvetching), and learning some good selling skills! 😉 It’s something they do every now and then, and we always find a cause that is “au courant” or near and dear to our hearts to donate the money. Well, this weekend was “The Weekend To End Breast Cancer” in Montreal. But when I asked where they were donating the proceeds, and one of them said, “I’m thinking I want to keep the money and buy something,” I urged them to reconsider. “How about for the kids who don’t have a mommy because she passed away from breast cancer? Let’s help in honor of those families. Let’s kick breast cancer in the butt!”

They were on board. My big son quickly named three mommies he knew who had breast cancer and who kicked it in the butt.

Well, apparently 4:00PM was the PERFECT time for a lemonade stand. Kids and their moms were driving home from school and right past our houses. I told our kids to drop the price from $0.50 per glass to $0.25… and we sold out! Twenty bucks for a great cause. And then my son looked at me and said, “I would also like to give $5.00 from my wallet for the mommies with breast cancer.”

You know me… I cried.

Then the neighbor said, “I wanna give $5.00 from my wallet too for the mommies.” Thirty bucks! We had thirty dollars for the weekend walkers. This was great.

We then found out that the walkers would actually be walking past our house around 11am Saturday morning. The plan was to hand the money to someone who worked for the event. At around 10:30am, some walkers started up our street. Smiling women. Chatting women. One in a scarf covering her head and no hair. Even men. Walking for a cause. Running shoes. Pink shirts everywhere. With their water bottles and hats. It was a site I cannot describe to you unless you were there. The feeling was totally overwhelming.

I can only explain it in pictures.

First sight of walkers
Friends Walking For A Cure
Do you love this guy or what?
Walking on by

But honestly, the highlight was when our kids handed over their $30 envelope to a young woman who lost her own mother to breast cancer, and who herself was a breast cancer SURVIVOR. All the women watching got teary-eyed. “This is $30.00 we made from our lemonade stand and we want to give it to help find a cure for breast cancer,” said the kids. The walkers were snapping pictures and the kids felt so empowered and good about themselves. Me? Well, I lost it again of course.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out, and then my hubby came home from work. We finished the day with a yummy dinner downtown, outside with the kids. They were so well behaved, all was grooving.

Here’s a memory of the calm before the storm. Literally.

Sunday was, well, a different story. We were visited by Hurricane Irene. In a nutshell, it rained and poured. And rained and poured into our basement. And then we lost power. A total nightmare. Last night was just an all-around crapfest. Our basement was wet, we had no power, the kids were afraid, and my husband and I, well you can say, it wasn’t our finest moment. There we were putting buckets and towels, in the dark, with the alarm beeping all over the house. Again, not our finest moment.

But you know what? A LESSON. Always a lesson… in the chaos, despite the chaos, there’s always tomorrow. Tomorrow always comes. We went to bed aggravated, but we woke up calm. The power was back on. The carpet cleaners are coming today to suck out the water. A guy is coming to reseal our walkway to prevent another leak into the basement. And we started pre-kindergarten today. The lesson is, in dark moments, a new day always brings a new outlook.

My little four year old walked proudly into school this morning. He wasn’t with a lot of his friends like his brother was, but instead of making a stink about it, I simply took my cues from him. There he was, smiling and hanging with his buddies, playing trains and cars, and I thought… “Who the hell am I to tell him he’s not happy? If he’s happy, then I’m happy.” It’s often us moms who project OUR OWN worries onto our kids, and I’m proud that I practiced good restraint today.

So the second lesson comes care/of my son: Go with good intent, and things always work out the way they’re meant to. All we can do, is put our best foot forward, and hope for the best.

What do you think?

xoxEDxox

PS – There are no pictures from the first day of Pre-Kindergarten, I guess cuz he’s the second child and I forgot. Total Mommy Fail.