Wake up at 7. I kiss my husband goodnight because he just got home from work an hour ago. 2 hours to get the kids fed and dressed, then dropped off at school and the babysitter’s house. Come home, 1 hour to shower (Actually I needed one yesterday, or maybe even the day before) 1 hour of work, setting up my Medium account, reading through the rules, learning how the whole platform works. The preschooler is home now, so he gets my attention for a short while before we sit at the table together, continuing my work on the laptop while he interrupts every 3.7 minutes to download another game on his tablet, tell me he is petting the cat, or ask for ice cream. Pause to get him lunch (remember I never ate breakfast and make myself lunch too). Eat bites in between typing sentences. Get his ice cream after lunch.
Another 2 hours gone.
Time to leave. need to pick up the 2-year-old from the babysitters house. Have to stop at the grocery store first (out of milk, again!) Talk to the babysitter for a while. Come home. 3PM. Another 2 hours gone.
Get 30 minutes of work done. 7 year old gets off bus, homework, snacks, a little more work on the laptop. Make dinner, my husband is up for work, everyone eats dinner, husband leaves, give the kids a bath. Get the clean children tucked into bed and I sit down on the end of a bunk bed and sing them to sleep.
5 hours gone.
10 minutes of quiet until the 4-year-old I babysit overnight shows up. 9PM. Clean up dinner and pick up the house a tiny bit while she plays before bed. Another hour down. Sit on the couch with her while she goes to sleep. Time to check my Facebook business page, respond to comments, notifications, engage with people, check insights make a post or story for tomorrow. 1 & 1/2 hours gone.
Make sure the house is locked up, lights are off, shut it all down for the night. Feed the cats, set my alarm for 5:30 when the little girl gets picked up. Crawl into bed, think about the thousand other things that needed to get done today, but did not. I feel like I am a ball of slime who is being pulled and stretched in all directions. So many things to do and so little time.
STOP! How did I start the day?
By snuggling the 4 year old who crawled into my bed in the middle of the night. By holding and rocking the littlest one who just wanted to snuggle when I picked him up out of his crib. Then I watched the 7 year old sleep for a minute while I looked at his beautiful face, rubbed his cheek until he smiled in his sleep and then woke up to a big hug from his mama.
The days are long, but the years are short.
Sometimes I let the chaos of the day to day stuff get to me and stress me out. I don’t want to let the long days steal the little moments from the short years. I just need to remember to STOP. S — Slow down. T — Take a deep breath. O — Observe the moment. P — Proceed more mindfully. I have to remember that it was an amazing day that started in the best way and that's all that really matters.
Tomorrow is another day. A new day to slow down. A new day to savor those snuggles just a few minutes longer. A new day to take a deep breath and find the calm within the chaos.
