If you know me, you know I don't sit still well, or for long. While home raising my five children for fifteen years I wrote many parenting articles, a couple of which were actually accepted for publication. (Haha! You all should be thankful that I didn't have access or the idea of blogging back then and was instead at the mercy of folks willing to publish my writing.) One published article comes to my mind when I am approaching the end of a break from the daily work routine. I still had only two children, when I wrote the article that was published in a faith-driven magazine. You need to know, I was that mom who relished the time with which I was gifted to hold my children. I loved holding them! Often others would comment that if I kept holding them, they would get used to it and expect it...well, yeah! That was the point, no?
Anyway, this article was about the euphoric feeling experienced when the rare instance of simultaneously napping children occurred, and what can be accomplished in that span of time. I meandered through the possibilities of catching up on laundry, paying bills, starting dinner preparations. All the things that are very difficult to do while two children, both under age 2, are awake and demanding my attention. But then I cut to the chase....I admitted to taking the time to sit and hold my sleeping daughter, soaking in her peacefulness, watching her trusting sleep fill my arms and heart, feeling her body becoming part of mine once again, and stating how this was truly the only thing that was impossible to do when she was awake.
So by now you are thinking, what the hell is she going on about? Why are we reliving her time 17 years ago before her children were the teenage brood that eats more quickly than she can shop, stays up later than she can muster and brings more angst than peace most days? Well, here is my point. I am on day #10 of an 11-day vacation from school. To be honest, I can't wait to see my students again and get back into all that we still have to share this school year! Crazy perhaps, but it is true. But at the same time, I woke up today thinking, "What do I want to do with my time between now and Monday morning? What will help me to know that I did what I truly cannot accomplish once school starts again?" In other words, what is my present day version of the cherished feeling of holding a sleeping, peaceful infant? That is what you and I need to determine to do with our time regardless of how frivolous others may think our choices are. Cherish it for the uniqueness it offers so the return to school is done with no regrets.
