Sometimes, I think we’re really confused. Sometimes, I want to grab people and shake them and yell at them about what’s truly important, and what just doesn’t matter at all. Sometimes, I think people have their priorities completely backwards and upside down. And then, sometimes, I see something like this:
My girl recently lost two teeth, and went to kindergarten roundup, my boy is just about potty-trained, and my baby is almost sleeping through the night. Time is going by too too too fast. In light of these recent events, I have decided that I want to spend more time enjoying my beautiful babies and less time doing things that don’t matter, like playing on Facebook, returning emails, and obsessing… over keeping the house picked up. I don’t want to look back on these precious, fleeting years with regret. I’ll still update y’all periodically, but I’m not going to spend so much time reading about you all. Forgive me for not keeping up with your business. And, if you happen to come to our house, you may have to step over a pile or two of laundry, you may trip on some Thomas trains, and our beds may not be made. You have been warned. 🙂
…and I’m struck by the idea that there are people who “get it.” They may be few and far between, but there are people who understand where their priorities need to be.
I’m convinced that there’s a generation (or more) of us that are going to suddenly look up and realize that they spent their entire life online; that, once tallied, their “downtime” playing Angry Birds or checking Facebook actually ate months of their total life. That we are someday going to be old and gray and dying, and realize, as we look back, that we forgot to actually do any living.
My husband recently withdrew from an MBA program; with his work schedule, it was a second evening each week away from home and family, and it was very unclear if the degree would really help him in any way, job-wise. (He jokes that he did a “cost-benefit analysis.”) The first Tuesday he didn’t go to class, he was playing football outside with the kids. The second Tuesday, he attended the art fair at their school, and we all went out to dinner together. There’s no doubt that you could create a persuasive argument that his decision “hurt” our future; that he might stall out in his job, that he could make “so much more” if he’d stayed with the program. But our children are children only once. We get no do-overs. And I’m unbelievably blessed to be married to someone who chooses family.
I’m dealing with choices as well; as my mornings fill up, my kid-free writing time has nearly disappeared. My goal of a post a day, Monday through Friday, was pretty much shot with the arrival of spring break. Am I going to sit parked in front of a computer when my kids are around? Or am I going to actually be a mom, and do my best to enjoy my kiddos while they’re here? I’m voting kids. Because I don’t want to look up one day and realize that they’re grown and gone, that I’m nearing the end, and that I spent my life sitting in front of a computer, even if I was doing something worthwhile and productive.
What are your priorities? If someone on the outside watched how you spend your time, would your priorities be clear? If you logged each and every minute of how you spent your day, what would that look like; what would it show? Would it prove you value what you say is important to you? How are we spending this life we’ve been blessed with? Because I think we forget that someday it’s gone.
Pursuing "enough" 