I planned to seize the year's extra day with all the gusto I could muster. When the Winter-That-Wasn't lobbed one last Hail-Mary of a storm, cancelling my meetings and leaving us with a snow day to enjoy, I envisioned curling up with the boys, a cup of tea and a pile of good books. An idyllic day of at-home mothering. Instead I woke up to one boy who wet the bed and another who leaked all over the changing table. Two giant piles of laundry and two hungry children cried for my attention. After a long night (used in the loosest sense of the term by those who don't sleep), a longer day loomed. I felt as stuck as the car's tires spinning at the end of the driveway. How would I turn this day around? It seemed to promise nothing but cranky children and crummy chores. As I stuffed the stinking sheets in the washer and the baby wailed, my poor brain scraped together one lone theological thought: I need a spirituality for stuff I don't want to do. And that's when I remembered Bernard. And … [Read more...] about leap day and lessons from l’arche