There’s a book written by Jamie Lee Curtis that K and I used to read together all the time when she was little called Today I feel silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day.
It follows a curly haired ginger girl through a couple of days worth of emotional highs and lows and how she and her parents deal with them. It’s quite the emotional roller coaster she’s on but nothing out of the ordinary for a young girl. Or for anyone really.
Today as I was storming home from the grocery store – yes storming, if I’d had a black cape and my big boots on I would have make Darth Vader proud – it occurred to me that I’m living my very own version of that book today. Granted, I’m not a small curly haired ginger girl, I’m a normal sized short adult female with long black locks, but still. The outward moods that have made up my day have been impressive.
Not from a mood swing standpoint. My mood has been fairly consistent today. Bad. Glum. Grumpy. But I’ve done my best to keep it in check. To maintain patience with those around me. Even with the stupid fucking drivers that don’t seem to know what a crosswalk is.
The point of the book is that whatever you’re feeling inside it’s okay. It’s written for kids, but I’ve taken it to heart. It’s okay for me to feel like shit. I to feel defeated. To feel hurt. To feel sad, cranky, grumpy, silly, crazy, relieved, bitchy, mean, happy, pretty, goofy, calm, or like the queen of the world.
As long as I keep it all in check*.
*Some days keeping it all in check demands wearing knee high boots in 80+ weather. Today was one of those days.
CamiKaos 
I get a kick out of that book. It puts it in perspective not only for Pea (who had an epicly bad day in her five-year-old life) but it reminds me that my kid will be happy or silly again tomorrow. (I hope.)
Ohhhhhh, yeah – you’ve described my own moods lately, along with my own response to handling it (sub in neon-green Keens with a skirt instead of the knee high boots, though).
What’s nice for me is that I can also own it with both kids now – the whole “mom’s in a very bad mood right now, which I’m trying to shake off. know that before you make that inane request, ok?”
Each person has there own version of knee-high boots :)
Luckily I’m able to explain the mood with mine as well, and as she has her own to cope with she’s been excellent at understanding and evening offering a hand.
My new version of knee high boots—-is beer. Not so much in my diet plan, but in the garden. Slugs defeat me. Hurt me. Make me mad as hell.
Well, those fat destructive bastards in their slimy khaki camouflage suits, can’t get me now. I’ve regained the power they stole from me. Beer in half buried jars all over the land have given me back my happy dance.
All those slugs can just drown in it ;)