Keeping it in Perspective

Have you ever been so overwhelmed that you don’t know where to begin? I’m there. I have looked forward to this time all semester – the time when my job is done for summer, yet my children are in school, filling their litttle brains with necessary stuff, while I’m at home being incredibly productive. In my daydreams I’m organizing closets, making soap, painting the porch, hauling away things to Goodwill, weeding the garden, and the list could go on all day with things I never seem to have time to do in my daily life. The ugly truth is that I’ve accomplished almost nothing on this list in the four weeks I’ve been off work. I can tell you what I HAVE done. There is a connecting thread to all of these things – see if you can find it. Coffee and lunch dates with friends and my husband. Lovely getaway to Amana and Iowa City with husband last Friday, multiple shopping trips for summer clothes for me, a bit of blogging, exercising my head off trying to run and increase my distance (up to four miles!), which takes way more time than one might think, and getting my hair colored. Okay, so did you find the connecting thread? It’s ME! Me, me, me! Aren’t I special? Everything thing I’ve done in the past four weeks, save for getting caught up on laundry and cleaning a couple toilets, has been all about me. Isn’t it grand?! It’s been a great few weeks and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, but I’m realizing how little time I have left. The kids get done with school next Wednesday and I still have most of the porch to paint, and all the rest left undone. At at this point I have so little time left and so much to do that I am stuck. Where to even begin? I feel like I did in college after procrastinating studying for so long and the test being very near. Why even study now? What’s the point? Just hang it up and take your lumps.
The best part? It’s almost over. Soon it’ll be nothing but hanging at the pool, summer picnics and playdates, camps, ball games, and iced tea on the front porch while the kids play in the sprinker, or even better, while they wash the car.
I can only do what I can do, right? I’ll crank out a few of the high ranking tasks on the list and then coast into summer. No point in beating myself up over what I should have been doing weeks ago. Life is short. I won’t ever look back and say, “I wish I’d scrubbed the floor more often.” Or, “I wish I’d kept the closets neater.” I am pretty sure I won’t look back and say, “I should have taken better care of me.” I got that covered.

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