Try a Little Harder

I don't remember last year being so hard.  Maybe it was.  Sometimes Fred and I have different expectations on how a night is going to proceed.  I made a grocery list and left it for Fred and then grabbed my keys, so that I could go pick up Jonathan from band practice.  Fred loves to grocery shop.  I don't.  It is only natural that I would think that he would buy groceries while I ran to pick Jonathan up, right?  Instead, Fred imagined that we'd both go pick Jonathan up from band practice.  Then, we'd go out to eat.  After that, we'd hit the grocery store.  It was a nice thought and an enjoyable evening.  (Except for the part about the groceries.)  Only one problem.  Jonathan dozed off without taking a shower last night.  We woke him up several times and he kept falling asleep.  Finally, at around 11:00p.m. he got up for his shower.  This put the entire family to bed way too late. 

This morning my alarm went off telling me that it was 5:20 a.m. and time to get up.  I snoozed and snoozed and snoozed until 5:40.  One problem.  There was no rushing Jonathan.  He was exhausted.  We finally shuffled out the door and arrived at seminary at 6:25!  Fred wondered out loud (from the comfort of his nice, soft and comfortable bed) if it was even worth it to go and I exclaimed that we were going even if it was only for five minutes!  Jonathan has to leave at 6:40 for band, so he only got in 15 minutes of seminary, but he was there for a few minutes.  I'm sure it seemed silly, but if I let him sleep in that one time, then he would push me to sleep in every time.  Not to mention, I would let myself sleep in!  It really did seem ridiculous, but we did it.

I dropped him off at IHS for band practice and drove back home.  Tired and possibly a little cranky, I saw the prettiest sunrise.  Maybe that was our reward for such a challenging morning.  

"Try a little harder to be a little better."

-President Hinckley