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It's very easy to never have enough time - anyone who lives in this day and age, parent or not, knows that. There is always something that needs to be done around the house; something extra you could do at work; some obligation you've stepped into and need to step up to.
This week, Drew started kindergarten. They started half the kids Tuesday, half Wednesday, then everyone was in on Thursday - so Drew had Wednesday off.
I took Wednesday off work, and I chose to have time. It was hard, actually. I wanted to get laundry done; that didn't happen until Wednesday night, and only one load. I wanted to clean the house - well, hopefully the gaming group (which is used to clutter anyway; our house is never truly clean) will forgive me that the clutter was worse than normal. Irritatingly, I failed to wrap a birthday present (although it was still delivered to the recipient, who seemed to like it).
What did I do instead? I made _memories_. I puttered about a bit in the morning while Drew watched a couple short videos, but after that we went to the Children's Museum - for longer than we normally do. He played outside in the water quite a lot. He played at the train table, and in the forest hallway, and he laughed and he grinned and he was friendly with and kind to random kids younger than him. He was, in short, happy and awesome. We ate lunch there (almost never do I do that: it's a decent cafe, but _really spendy_, because captive audience). Then we played some more.
We left, and we went grocery shopping. Drew did not think that was awesome, but we really needed some stuff, and our day needed some reality.
After that? We packed up and went to the water park, where he ran happily through the fountains and down the streams and had a grand time. He got too cold, so we got him dried off and dressed and went to the playground nearby, where he ran and played and was friendly with a girl about Ian's age (he basically treated her like Ian, and she responded by refusing to do what she didn't want to, which is what Ian does, so everyone was pleased, more or less), and went on the slide about a bazillion times, and ran around like crazy.
And then we went and picked Ian up from day care, and had dinner, and all that stuff.
I remember the joy on his face. I remember the laughter. I remember walking through the park in the warm but not sweltering air and the incredibly blue sky and the trees and the light breeze ruffling the leaves. I remember the water reflecting the sun in two very different play areas. I remember Drew standing in a hole in the middle of the train table that's supposed to be - when it has its inset - a lake. I remember *contentment*.
All too often, I get harried and hurried and I forget to make time, to choose to have time.
Wednesday was awesome.
This week, Drew started kindergarten. They started half the kids Tuesday, half Wednesday, then everyone was in on Thursday - so Drew had Wednesday off.
I took Wednesday off work, and I chose to have time. It was hard, actually. I wanted to get laundry done; that didn't happen until Wednesday night, and only one load. I wanted to clean the house - well, hopefully the gaming group (which is used to clutter anyway; our house is never truly clean) will forgive me that the clutter was worse than normal. Irritatingly, I failed to wrap a birthday present (although it was still delivered to the recipient, who seemed to like it).
What did I do instead? I made _memories_. I puttered about a bit in the morning while Drew watched a couple short videos, but after that we went to the Children's Museum - for longer than we normally do. He played outside in the water quite a lot. He played at the train table, and in the forest hallway, and he laughed and he grinned and he was friendly with and kind to random kids younger than him. He was, in short, happy and awesome. We ate lunch there (almost never do I do that: it's a decent cafe, but _really spendy_, because captive audience). Then we played some more.
We left, and we went grocery shopping. Drew did not think that was awesome, but we really needed some stuff, and our day needed some reality.
After that? We packed up and went to the water park, where he ran happily through the fountains and down the streams and had a grand time. He got too cold, so we got him dried off and dressed and went to the playground nearby, where he ran and played and was friendly with a girl about Ian's age (he basically treated her like Ian, and she responded by refusing to do what she didn't want to, which is what Ian does, so everyone was pleased, more or less), and went on the slide about a bazillion times, and ran around like crazy.
And then we went and picked Ian up from day care, and had dinner, and all that stuff.
I remember the joy on his face. I remember the laughter. I remember walking through the park in the warm but not sweltering air and the incredibly blue sky and the trees and the light breeze ruffling the leaves. I remember the water reflecting the sun in two very different play areas. I remember Drew standing in a hole in the middle of the train table that's supposed to be - when it has its inset - a lake. I remember *contentment*.
All too often, I get harried and hurried and I forget to make time, to choose to have time.
Wednesday was awesome.
