May 24, 1015: Slow Down...

The thought for the day, my friends.....slow down.

This theme keeps resurrecting itself amidst the chaos around me. And by the sounds of the conversations and interactions I have with my friends, I am not alone.

Having a three day weekend ahead of me sounded like pure bliss. With the less than stellar weather forecast, I planned on working non-stop for the entire weekend. A time to play catch-up; both for work and household duties that have been staring at me from my carefully sketched out to-do list.

Go, go, go...the current story of our lives. With hefty work goals and busy kids dominating our time, Garrett and I try to keep true our workout schedule and date nights. Neither get gold stars, but we're trying. And the kids are older. By appearances, they would seem collectively self-sufficient.

But my dear friend Robbie hit the nail on the head in her explanation to me on growing kids many moons age. Although Robbie and I are the same age, Robbie's kids are 5ish years older than mine. When my kids were still little, I was basking in my new delight of no diaper bags and reduced nap time. Quickly outgrowing daycare, I felt like a made-mother. My job was done in my naive mind.

Robbie didn't miss a beat when sharing her thoughts. Her advice sticks with me to this day..."little people...little problems. Big people...big problems" Her point was that although the number of issues to deal with reduces in number, the magnitude scales proportionally to offset with each added year.

A wise woman.

It isn't necessarily just problems that exist, but the decision-making and the life choices are much more critical at age 22 and 19 then they were for my 14 and 11 year-old. I didn't know it at the time, but what baseball team Zach tried out for or the timing of Ben's 6th grade physical really weren't that big of decisions.

Today Zach and I reviewed his resume. He will graduate from gunsmithing school in August. Ben is weighing changing majors and I am just trying to keep an ever-social Grant tied down. Life as a 15 year old is a golden time. I commented to Garrett that Grant could be leading a second life and how would we know? In this world of texting and back-to-back activities, there is a bit of reality behind our little side chuckle. Bigger kids....

Thoughtful spot...seat is still warm

With boys #2 and #3 safely with their father on Friday, I rolled up my sleeves. Ready to work, I prepared my thoughtful spot. Clipped flowers and carefully stacked colored post-it-notes. Window cracked with the outside sounds of birds flooding in for my ears as my various highlighters positioned within eye shot.

And I worked. Debits. Credits. Loan document review. e-mail responses. The birds kept singing, the rain came and went, and I kept going like the energizer bunny.

Church and a family movie were our planned outings today. A run and a bike ride were sprinkled in throughout the weekend. Zach wanted to see Mad Max. The Brucker kids chose Tomorrowland. So divide and conquer took me with Zach solo. After the movie, we were driving home and Zach asked if I wanted to do something else.

Without hesitation my answer was "I really need to get back to work"

And then I paused.

Slow down.

This day will pass and then there will be another and another after that. And then there will be my moment in time when there won't be another. No doubt the work and busyness will never go away, but my time with my oldest son sure will.

A change of heart.

"You asked if I could help you with your resume. Should we work on that?"

"Sure" was Zach's response.

So that we did. With my computer in tow and a wi-fi connection available, we went back to the same sports bar we visited on Mother's Day. With paper to pen and then a constant swapping of the laptop, we came up with a nice final product. The discussion behind the resume centered around Zach's goals and aspirations, along with his clear drive in his chosen vocation. This made his mother both pause and smile.

Garrett, my always accommodating husband, came and picked me up. As is our daily routine, he asked me to read out loud a daily devotional we share. The words hit home.

"As your mind stops racing, your body relaxes and you regain awareness. This awareness is vital to your spiritual well-being; it is your lifeline"

Sitting down to dinner, we enjoyed some relaxing conversation with two entertaining twelve year-olds. A laugh on stories of the golf course ranger. A lit back yard fire. A relaxing sunset. The mind is not racing. Awareness. The best kind of day.