For some annoying reason, Santa thought it would be a great idea to pick up some of those giant – I mean giant – candy bars for each kid this year. While it was a fun gesture, Santa didn’t think about the fact that that is way too much candy for anyone – let alone two little girls. Plus, how do you even store that much candy – especially once it is open?
For us, the simplest and quickest solution one tired night after all the Christmas fun, was to just shove it in the refrigerator. I mean, I felt like it was a tomorrow problem – it would at least last for the night. And if I am being honest, about 95% of it I had planned on tossing out.
However, a day (or two or three) later, that chocolate was still sitting in my way in my fridge, and we hadn’t gotten around to eating or throwing it away. Instead, we worked around it, ultimately dislodging it from its safe place of steadiness. As luck would have it, Maylie opened the door one night and down fell one of the oversized bars of chocolate.
It was pretty epic. Because it was chilled, it literally broke into about 172 pieces. Chocolate was all over my kitchen floor. And while it can’t be proven, Maylie was positive that that one was Reagan’s – but not without feeling bad about it. Ha!
Softly, she explained to Reagan what had happened – that when she opened the door REAGAN’S candy bar fell out and shattered into a million pieces. In those next few seconds, Reagan’s eyebrows rose and you could see her little brain going to work. And I just braced myself for what was to come. Would she go after Maylie for revenge? Would she cry it out that her candy bar was broken? How would she react?
As she studied the shredded pieces on the floor, she finally quite simply said, “Good! It was so big that I was having trouble cutting it up! This makes it so much easier.”
And in that moment, I cannot tell if my heart actually broke or was the proudest that it has ever been. You see, this year, we have been shattered at times; our world flipped upside down just like that candy bar. And many times we girls have curled up together and cried it out. We couldn’t see anything but the brokenness.
A year ago, this young babe would have thrown a tantrum over the fact that her candy bar was no longer perfect. She would not have been able to see past the cracks and creases and into the fact that the candy was still in fact candy. No, it would have been broken and not worthy.
But now, after a year of making strides toward the imperfections, changes and brokenness that life sometimes deals, this babe can resiliently react with a positive thought process; she can see beauty through the brokenness – worth through the fall.
And this Mama watched as her baby sought out and found the beauty in that broken candy. It did not matter that it was no longer one big, perfect piece – instead, she found the value in being able to still enjoy it regardless of the state that it was in. She turned tragedy into something terrific. That, dear friends, is something that we three girls could not have done a year ago.
So as 2021 walks out the door, with me kicking it goodbye with all my might, I cannot help but reflect on the growth of it all. This year, these babies (and I) were tried with more brokenness than we ever wished for. But, throughout the year, we also found more strength than we ever thought imaginable.
And through it all, we have grown so much that we can stop when something hard hits us, raise our eyebrows, and evaluate what we can take with us from that situation as something positive.
It has been a struggle, 2021, and I am sure that I have made my fair share of mistakes – including feeling like I was completely lost when the first candy bar crashed last January. But one thing is for sure, God has been there holding us, teaching us, guiding us and making us stronger. And He has brought all the right people into our lives to see that broken or not, that candy is still candy and worth picking up off the floor – even in pieces.
So, peace out 2021 and bring on 2022 and all that it has to offer. Because my baby girls and I, we are finally strong enough to realize the potential of collectively building back up all the broken pieces.
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