There is no snow. This is a photo from last week, when ever so briefly snow fell and stayed. Now it has rained for days. The wishful thinker in me imagines the piles of snow that would have accumulated between then and now had the temperature been lower, the possiblities for snow forts and snowmen and seasonal festiveness. The practical thinker in me says: Remember shovelling? And scraping the windshield? Remember bad drivers?
Ah, but remember the sound of the snow, the muffling effect, the crunch underfoot, remember crispy eyelashes after a long run.
This morning was one of those mornings when I spent about ten chaotic minutes wishing things could go more smoothly. The obvious every day things like: getting all of the children out the door, along with all of their possessions, and their homework completed. But maybe that last-minute flurry is just the way that it is and ever will be. Maybe I should apprciate all that we managed to accomplish this morning, despite the last-minute scramble.
- I swam 2.5km
- Kevin and Albus swam for half an hour (AppleApple was too exhausted from her multifaceted weekend to get up early)
- supper was started in the crockpot
- six people ate a healthy breakfast
- a load of laundry went into the machine
- Albus completed homework that was due last Wednesday and only discovered at 9pm last night (well, at least he did it; I hope there's a lesson in there somewhere)
- Fooey practiced piano
- the after-school walk home was arranged
- everyone took their vitamins
- Fooey took her medicine (she's on antibiotics for strep)
- I talked to FedEx to arrange couriering the page proofs to my publisher
- everyone except Fooey got out the door; most were even wearing appropriate footwear
- I remembered to call the school re Fooey's absence today
- no one was late
And it wasn't even 9am.
Is there a better way? It's so tempting to think that there must be, that life can always be improved upon (and I'm not advocating staying in a rut of obviously wrong behavior). But maybe sometimes there actually isn't a better way. Maybe sometimes I need to take a deep breath and gut through those ten minutes of chaos, and appreciate everything that is working.Labels: Big Thoughts, breakfast, homework, kids, morning, swimming
