We’re back to our it’s-still-winter-here weather. Yesterday’s temperatures peaked above 70 degrees. Today we’re hovering in the lower 40’s, with winds that feel bitter and harsh after yesterday’s warmth. The boys spent the morning with Dad outside. Tuesday and Thursday this week we had classes from one of the local schools come out for a morning sugar-tapping field trip. Josh took the parents, teachers, and kids down to the woods where the maple trees are. The boys stayed up by the fire, adding wood when needed and charged with the task of occasionally stirring the pot of boiling sap. I wasn’t completely comfortable leaving them like that, but if I were to wait until I was completely comfortable before I let them go again, all three of them would still be nursing at my breasts.

Sometimes this sharing of children creates conflict. While I have my adventurous side and want my kids to be free and have experiences, I also tend to be more protective and worry more it come to their safety. Dads don’t seem to worry as noticeably, or in the same ways. They have different ways of parenting their young and introducing them to the ways of the world. In a perfect world these differences create a vibrant life, an entire family and community of harmony and balance. Even in an imperfect world this oftentimes happens. But in an imperfect world, we have to hurt a little more.

I had a chiropractor appointment this morning. Right now I’ve only got one more scheduled on the calendar. There are things I’ve liked and haven’t liked, which maybe I’ll write more about another day, but there is something to be said about the hope and belief that you are being helped, particularly in times of great desperation. It’s not just the adjustments, but the insights that are gained through the regular interactions. You learn a lot about healthcare when becoming a patient, one of the things being that consistency of care within the provider-patient relationship is in its own way healing.