The Rush

It has been longer than I expected since my last post. All day, every day, I write stories in my head, but never seem to have time to sit down at this darn computer. This past weekend was a busy one for my family, no busier than any other, mind you, but it just felt exhausting. I'm sure most of you have the same type of weekends, and if you have kids who are involved in sports and activities, you are probably exhausted right now as well.

I've always been against overscheduling kids with too many activities, and I honestly don't think my children are involved in too much--separately, that is. The problem lies in having three children who have different things going on, often at the same time! My daughter is involved in the least amount of things, but is always dragged around to her brothers' sporting events. This weekend I felt particularly sorry for her because all she wanted to do was lie on the couch and read. She wanted and needed a day to just relax, which we all could use, but I couldn't give it to her.


Although these activities are fun for the kids, and keep them healthy and active, sometimes it can feel like we live in the car, rushing from one thing to another. Think about it, how many times a day do you say, "hurry up" to your kids? I can't be alone in this. "Hurry up, the bus is coming, Hurry up, put on your cleats, Hurry up, get in the car!" I know I sound like a broken record, and that can't be fun to hear. To top it all off, in between sports, there was food shopping that needed to get done, so I was feeling pretty much like burnt toast when I arrived at the food store to grab the cold cuts for this week's sandwiches.

One of the first people I saw was a neighbor from down the street. Ray's youngest is in college now. "How's it going?" he asked. "I don't know which end is up," I blurted out. "We've been running from one thing to another all day with the kids!" I must have looked like a mom about to lose it, because Ray looked at me thoughtfully and said. "It's a lot, I know, but it's just like my lawn." I looked at him quizzically, not having the slightest idea what he was talking about. All I could think was I still had shopping to do, dinner to make, and my older son still had a football game. "My wife used to get so angry because our lawn wouldn't grow," Ray continued. "She used to complain that all the kids were always running all over the lawn, and it looked terrible. I told her one day she would miss that." Ray paused and said quietly, "I have a great lawn now."

Oh, sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees. I trip over toys that keep reappearing in areas I've just cleaned, dirty handprints are all over the glass door, and I run from morning till night, doing laundry, making meals, volunteering at school. There are days, as I'm sure you will agree, when you have so much to do that you wish the day was over before it even gets started. Tryng to coordinate schedules and rides, and who needs to get where is a stressful job. But it does sadden me when I realize it won't be forever.

Thanks to a reality check provided by a wise neighbor, at least for a few minutes today, I'm going to go outside and give thanks for that imperfect lawn of mine.