Too Busy to Not Enjoy

As mentioned a few posts ago, the intent with this blog was never to fill the time.  Time seems scarce enough these days that we don’t find ourselves looking for things to do.  When I hear of people sitting down to watch TV at night, read a book, or post random ‘selfie’ thoughts on social media my thoughts are usually “How do people do that?”  “What are they giving up to squeeze in those activities?” “Is there a way we could equalize the world so that the single parents around the world could benefit from this apparent extra time that a percentage of the population has?”  While I have learned to embrace social media for the instantaneous electronic connection to ‘friends’ and other benefits it can provide, it sure seems like the world might not be getting smarter based on some of the posts I see.  OK….off the soap box.  The goal of the blogging was to improve the interaction with those close to us, namely our family, while we disappear for a few months.  Weekly pictures and updates on our family was meant to help others know we didn’t move to another country…..although sometimes that doesn’t sound too bad.

What I have found through the blogging is that squeezing in a weekly post may have actually had the opposite effect.  Instead of adding another item to the ever-growing ‘To Do’ list, it seems to have slowed down my life and created more reflection.  Truthfully, I don’t have time to blog and I don’t have time to post on social media how great my talented kids and hot wife are.  It’s possible that telling my kids how great they are by being fully present with them may be more beneficial than posting to my uninterested friends how great they are.  The blogging though….it takes time to collect new thoughts.  Yes, it seems to be well received with family members begging for pictures of the kids.  The time spent pondering the weekly thoughts and emotions though has forced me to stop for a moment and reflect.  While the last several posts have taken on a tone of frustration, exhaustion, and endurance, those are real thoughts.  Everyone is busy these days so I understand we are not the exception.  It’s a relative term.  However, sometimes I look at our life and wonder how much more complicated we have made it by simply living by our family standards.  It would be much easier to not make lunches for our kids and rely on some food program or MREs (Army term for meals that are ready to eat).  It would be much easier to shove the kids in the car and make the scheduled stops to drop them off at their respective locations rather than spend the extra 20 minutes to walk them to school and hear the thoughts of sometimes innocent kids.  It would be much easier to turn the TV on and let them be entertained rather than having them create their own adventure.  It would be much easier if Katy sold purses out of the home from 10a-1p rather than considering health insurance penalties and unnamed deductions on tax returns.  We would probably sleep better, the kids would fall into some kind of normal way of life, and a number of other things would probably be true that would seemingly improve our life.  At the end of the day, none of this would be true to our family. 

Winter is Back

So, we continue on…. The kids continue to cope with tax season in their own ways.  Katy misses the kids.  Work is busy for me and the evenings are usually filled with dishes, lunches, and at least one item on the ‘To Do’ list.  We skimp on sleep and we seemingly take the road less traveled in a lot of ways.  Along the way, we have tried to make the most of our circus and juggle the different acts as they come along.  Just as in a well-run circus, numerous acts are performed, but only one act can happen at one time.  Blogging has helped me reflect on the different 'acts' throughout our week.  Life does not always flow as well as the pictures would lead us to believe, but slowing down to be present within each act has been enjoyable for me.  Many of these moments with the kids are fleeting and will never come back.  Our kids get to be a part of the effort to make it through the marathon and see Mom and Dad work together.

We press on…..

8 WEEKS TO GO