Planning. Grading. Dishes. Laundry. Fun-time. Exercise. Cooking. Dishes. Yard work. Who has time for all that? And, I understand, some people find time for ... vacations. Imagine!
Actually, I'm getting somewhere. My planning, grading, and dishes are done. Yay! Fun-time waits; in an hour or so we'll have a family wii interval, maybe tennis today, and that'll fill some exercise needs as well. Calgon....take me away!!!! Hidden deep within the pile of dirty laundry lay my saving grace.
Harold and Anne wanted to go to the Rec. Center. I get it: the steam room, lazy river, two hot tubs, all sound delightful. And I still wanted to stay home. I pleaded laundry. (Harold hates to run appliances with no one in the house, and we both feel clean laundry is a basic need. Need I go into a hamper description? Suffice it to say: "Pew!") And so now, they're gone. The house is empty. I got time to myself. Laundry aside, and I'm ever-so grateful.
Now for the deeper look:
With one in place (time, boundaries, or thinking space), the others appear confluently. They each require intent and action. When I need more time, a prioritized list helps. When I need to get to work, boundaries are in order. Making quiet time by setting some aside planfully allows me mind-space to get some thinking accomplished. Thank you, dirty, smelly linens, for helping me acquire the quietude in which I now type.
So often I go after it all at once: boundaries, time, and thinking space. I start feeling frustrated because multi-tasking my intentions feels impossibly overwhelming, and I'm just looking to feel sane. Most of the time I go around simply hoping I won't bust!
Today's happy accident seems like the exception. How often does quiet time bestow itself on a full-time working mom and wife like me? (rarely!!!) and I got it by setting a boundary: I'm unwilling to start the week with dirty laundry. Ordinarily boundaries are a growth area for me. I can set them, and yet by the time I realize I needed to, it feels a little late, and the boundary-setting words sometimes come out a little too strongly. Today, everyone's needs helped me find my own space and quiet thinking time. The sward that usually cuts through all this business is the magical prioritized list. I need one today, and my boundaries have given me the thinking time to get started.
In addition to all the other to-do's, also on my mind are: Putting together three classes for our district this summer, actually make it four (a tech. class, a classroom management class, an assessment literacy class, and an independent study/coaching class). Also, I'd like to begin writing some articles for publication in parenting and teaching periodicals, and exploring some teaching abroad possibilities (if any exist) for over the summer. Oh yeah! Then there's the summer classes for our elementary students I'd like to offer: "Global Glogging" The tag might read: Get your galoshes, gear up the grey matter, and do some globe-trotting glogger-style! OK, it needs work, but clearly, there's a lot, too much, going on upstairs in my own grey matter!
How will I ever find the time? I gotta stop typing and make a list. Then maybe the accumulation of resources will reveal itself, and I'll have more time to appreciate it. It's definitely time to start.
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