The Pressure of March 2nd

(A new Dr. Seuss book found on the kitchen table every March 2nd.)

Of course Saturday was March 2nd, that ordinary day we throw in a little extra. Planning and putting the new Dr. Seuss book on the table was the easy part, the other parts didn't come quite as easily.

Not that the "other parts" are any trouble, and typically happen in passing not as anything formal, but this year I found added pressure to carry through with every element of "the tradition" now that it is mentioned in a published book!!

An excerpt of my chapter in the Power of Moms book, Deliberate Motherhood: 12 Key Powers of Peace, Order & Joy, includes a tribute to a typical March 2nd around here:

Another of our family traditions falls on March 2nd. As an adult, the day always stood out in my mind because of a silly memory from back in my college days. Later, when I had three young children, my grandfather passed away on this day. A couple of years after he died, I thought about the reasons that particular day stood out in my mind. Throw into the mix that it is Dr. Seuss' birthday, and I had all the motivation I needed to start a new family tradition! Our celebration is very simple. Upon waking up, my children find a new Dr. Seuss book on the kitchen table. At dinner, we retell a story about my grandpa and I regale them with the silly memory from college. It isn't a big event, but it's enough for good memories. Take it from my daughter, Ellie, who recently asked, "When's that day we get a new book on the table? That's a fun day."

See how simple this is? Yet Mike and I were in a doozy of an argument for much of Saturday, and I lost most of my incentive to tell any fun memories from my past or to make the effort to put any "extra" into an ordinary Saturday. Except it really wasn't an ordinary Saturday, because it isn't that often Mike and I aren't speaking to each other, or that we have a houseful of extra children. But that wasn't the kind of "extra" in "ordinary" that I wrote a whole chapter segment about, so I decided to make a chocolate bundt cake.

(Incidentally, my husband and I made up just moments after him partaking of this delicious cake. Except, I don't really think it was the cake that changed his mind, I think it was me, his fabulous wife that he couldn't stand staying mad at for any longer.)

We had four extra children for dinner and cake, and even though I got booted from the kitchen table and dined alone with my tacos in the dining room. (Mike was still not talking to me at this point and declined to join me in there. I actually didn't "invite" him to join me, but he declined nonetheless.) So instead of regaling all my children with my favorite memories as I was "supposed to", I let Ellie lead part of them in singing Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss, Ellie then alluded to my college memory, and I'm sad to say we didn't talk about my Grandpa, even though I found myself thinking about him a lot during the day.

Before Mike had the chocolate cake, he was doing his routine "Somersault Machine" and horse-rides with the children. In an effort to make peace with Mike, I told him I would do the "Somersault Machine" that I was too scared to try in the past.

Without giving too many details, as it really isn't a mental picture you want in your mind, I will say, Mike Megan and Ellie were very impressed. Although the second and third attempt didn't go quite as smoothly as the first, but the crash landing onto Mike's chest was quite humorous.

So between the chocolate cake and the somersault machine, my husband and I were on speaking terms again by late Saturday evening. Except the next morning my neck and back were suffering the after-effects from a somersault in the air above my husband's body.

Nothing that a piece of left-over chocolate bundt cake for breakfast couldn't fix.