Mondays are for Blue Shoes and Coffee

Today was the Mondayest of all Mondays. Sunday night, I decided that watching "Quantico" on Netflix was more important than getting some much-needed rest so that I would be able to tackle what I knew was going to be a LONG Monday. But, who doesn't love Quantico? Most days, the tv in my house never leaves Nick Jr, so I have learned to take advantage of nap time and bedtime to catch up on all shows that don't involve animated characters, problem-solving skills, perfectly timed musical numbers and unwavering excitement. Normally, I am able to drown out the noise of any show that I am watching and fall asleep, because I am exhausted, but not this Sunday. This Sunday I decided that the clock had to be wrong and I got so wrapped up in Quantico, that when I realized it was 0230 I knew it was time to at least attempt to go to sleep. I switched the tv back to Nick Jr and fell asleep to the soothing sound of Paw Patrol. In a perfect world, I would have checked my alarm to make sure that it was strategically set in 5-minute increments beginning at 0515, but let's be honest, who is thinking about an alarm at 0230 while watching a terrorist attack get foiled by rogue operatives? Not me! We all know how this story ends, with me jumping out of bed like a ninja at 0545 because my plan is to be out of the house by 0620 so that I can get to work by 0630 and catch up on everything that came in over the weekend. Classic right? Oh, but it gets better. You know how your parents always told you to prepare your clothes the night before so that you were ready to go the next morning? Well, because I have a slight addiction to shopping (everyone does, right?), I am normally pretty good about selecting what I am going to wear the next day so that I am not fumbling around in the dark trying not to wake up my son as he sleeps peacefully. So I decided that I will just reach into the closet blindly, pull out the first thing that my hand touches and go with it. I didn't have time to go through multiple options this morning. Luckily, my first pull was a dress! Thank goodness! It would have been a more difficult task if I had to match up a shirt with an appropriate skirt or pants. I had the dress, but I still needed to choose shoes, do my hair, cook my keto-friendly breakfast and most importantly, make coffee. I should reiterate, that I have a "slight" addiction to shopping, so when it comes to choosing shoes, it is not as simple as choosing a black shoe or a white shoe. No, my shoe collection is a color-wheel with many different styles and heel heights. Normally, I choose my outfit around my shoes, so today my process was completely thrown off. I walked over to my wall of shoes and prayed that the shoes I grabbed were black. I slipped on my slippers and ran out of my room. I should mention that I have the best brother in the world. He met me at the stairs with eggs, bacon and...COFFEE. I was off to a good start. Just leaving ten minutes late, but really, who is keeping track at this point? I would have normally looked in the mirror at least twice by now to make sure I looked presentable, but not this particular morning. This morning, I trusted my instincts and just went with it. As I was locking the door, I glanced down and realized that I had on the most adorable blue shoes. Blue, such a random color shoe to grab, but in the dark, it looked black to me. What are the odds that I would grab the one dress in my closet that this particular shade of blue would match? I felt pretty good about this "choice" overall. These blue shoes represent more than me running late. They represent my ability to be okay without all of the planning and preparation that goes into every day of my life. They represent my ability to just go with the flow and let life lead in some aspects. This morning taught me that sometimes the best things happen when I feel like everything is going wrong. This is exactly what I needed to start the week. These blue shoes made my Monday better than I expected. With the help of coffee, I dare say that this Monday was a welcome part of my week. I don't wish that it was still the weekend, I feel ready to take on the rest of the week. Does this mean that I won't pick my clothes out the night before? Probably not, because let's be honest, how many times will I actually match? But, this does mean that I am okay with not having to plan every aspect of my day and life and I have proven to myself that chaos has the ability to bring about beautiful change.