In times of rest and reset

Cash is gone for the summer. I got back from dropping him off at his dad’s on Thursday, and worked from home all day yesterday. Today is Saturday and I’m faced with two whole days empty of any obligation. Even the obligation of mowing the lawn has been removed, since it’s forecast to rain nonstop. 

When you have a kid around, you are forced to plan some things. Even a “lazy” day at home includes prepared meals, and plans to keep him from being bored and grumpy. Today I’ve decided I’m keeping my calendar empty. It sounds unproductive, but it won’t be. I’ll be able to read a book for 15 minutes, then get up and switch out the laundry. I’ll go to the hall closet to get something out and realize that thing hasn’t been organized in a few years. I love these days where I can listen to the house, and have time to remedy things I normally don’t have time for. 

Normally I’d grab a towel, feel uncomfortable that there are blankets poorly folded at the top, that Cash’s goggles are just sitting on the shelf with no real home, and that who knows what might be lurking in the corners of the bottom shelf. But I wouldn’t have time to do anything about it, so I shut the door and move on. Today I can pay attention to those little trouble areas that stress me out in my mom-life, and actually do something about them. I may spend 2 hours removing every article from the closet and washing and refolding it all, throwing out stuff we don’t need. I may fix a loose hinge, or replace a light bulb. Deep clean the coffee pot. Organize Cash’s closet. (Apparently we have a lot of closet chaos around here). 

This is a gift to me, a time to hit reset on our household. I can deep clean, and reorganize and come up with new systems that will make my mom life easier and more efficient. I’ll be less stressed, and have more time to play and focus on him than just coordinating the chaos all the time.