Friday, May 21, 2010

(As an aside - I recently saw a blog carnival called "Real Person Tuesday" (maybe it was Wednesday). It made me laugh. Is there anyone who reads this blog who questions I'm a real person? Do I REALLY need to take picture of the writing in the dust on the sofa table to prove to you guys that it exists? Surely not. Surely that's just somebody's way of talking people into linking back to their blog. Documenting crumbs in the corner seems like the epitome of naval gazing to me.)

Certain seasons require me to pare down and focus my energy. Peripheral activities - any thing that is not necessary for sustaining life or sanity - have been completely neglected. My kids, my work, an occasional conversation with Brian, and church commitments - that's all I have the energy to pull off right now.

The effect? My kids are much happier.

They have more of my attention. I'm not trying to shush them while talking on the phone while scrubbing random stickiness off the floor before we dash out of the door to make our next scheduled thing. I simply don't have the wherewithall to pull it off right now. I'm sitting down with them more, reading more, letting them stay and play a little longer. Since there are no more gold stars, I'm not quite as concerned with earning them right now.

It's really kind of nice.

Brian has picked up some of the slack, doing things around the house I normally finish before he has the chance to offer to do them. And some things simply have been left undone. If you've called me recently, I apologize for my negligence. I really will call you back eventually. And please don't look at the back bathroom, because it has been a WHILE since it's been cleaned. Eventually it will have to be done. But I'll get to it later. Today I'm enjoying the effects of a slower pace on our lives - my happier kids, and their less-overwhelmed mama.

Happy Friday.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

And that's why I've sucked at reading blogs. Cuz I'm paying attention to my kids...