Vacation Time!!!

Last week was just crazy.  Some of it I scheduled  in but the rest was imposed upon me.  I do try to plan ahead and I most often look at the week and have my outfits ready to go as I fold the laundry.  One day in particular was so planned, then unplanned and then it changed again . . . I had switched outfits for the following day 5 times and then when the dust settled I ended up wearing what I had picked out originally.  I’m sure in crisis my outfit should not matter but knowing what I’m going to wear the next day gives me a sense of having a jump on the day–as if one day I may actually get the early worm. 

Friday was very busy in a very fun way and at the end of the day, Joseph and I were talking about our week, and I told him I felt like I could use a vacation.  He was so excited “where will we go Mom–Legoland again”?  I had to break the news to him that I wanted just a vacation for me and to spend it in my bed.  “Without us”?  So I tried to explain the best way I knew how that I loved him very much but sometimes I just want to sit in the quiet and not really have to do anything.  “Isn’t that what naptime is for”?  I agreed that naptime was the perfect time to have a quiet Mommy time.  All was right again in his world.  But the idea of having time to just sit was one that I wanted to hold onto.

On Saturday Eric came home.  He stays for 22 hours and then leaves.  This weekend we had only a few errands that included all of us and I was looking forward to a nice meal together and then a quiet evening.  My friend had offered to watch the kids so we were able to have some time together without kids–to not have interruptions was a beautiful thing.  We could start and end entire sentences.  We could finish an entire topic without forgetting what we were thinking.  It was refreshing.

By the time Eric left– we had the laundry done, grocery shopping done, meals for the week planned, outfits in order, and the schedule for the week updated with the latest events.  I was finished.  Except for lunch, dinner and bathtime.

So I sat on the couch and watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Brum with my kids for the afternoon and worked on a knitting project.  What an amazing vacation.  It lasted about 4 hours.  I sat and my kids came and went working on several different projects.  I think that they enjoyed my vacation too.

Thank you God for giving us the gift of time.  Help me use each moment of the day to serve you–and when I fail please gently remind me that I have right now, this moment, to change.