Too busy

So there's that familiar pair of words, "too busy," that so many of us wear like a badge of honor or an albatross around our neck. It's one of my least favorite pairs of words, and it's one that I listen to with a veritable boulder of salt at my disposal--it needs more than the usual grain. I believe down to my core that we are almost never "too busy" to accomplish what actually matters to us--it's about priorities and decisions, not about being too busy. We do what matters to us at the time, and we don't do what doesn't. Period.

The month of April has made me pause and take a deep breath and say "thank goodness that's over." I don't like that feeling, because I don't like the feeling of being happy about the passage of time. That generally means I haven't been mindful enough, haven't taken care of myself enough, and haven't enjoyed enough the mundane, ordinary awesomeness of my daily life. I would like, as much as possible, to look back on a day and say "wow, that was full!" with a smile, rather than "wow, thank goodness that's over!"

There were too many days like the latter in April. We had a nasty stomach bug blow through our house to begin the month--everyone got ill but Eli (hooray breastmilk!!!!), and Brian's sickness struck while he was out of state at a conference. I was sick for three days right smack dab in between two clients' births (which were six days apart from each other), and Maia caught it, too. My exercise routine was messed-up, I had to focus on maintaining my milk supply for Eli (not easy to do through dehydration and insufficient calories), and Brian had to come home early from Colorado to get himself back on track.

Not the best way to begin a month!

May is about hitting the reset button. It's time to re-prioritize time with the family, time outdoors, exercise, preparing healthy foods, earlier bedtimes, and keeping our family life in order in a way that took a hit last month. I'm awaiting the birth of a client's baby soon, after which I don't have another client until mid-July. Brian doesn't have another out-of-state conference on the calendar at all! Maia's preschool year ends in a couple of weeks; that will be another relief, another item to remove from the weekly calendar for a while. We've taken on the position of President of our preschool next year (Brian and I will share Presidential duties) but our obligations for that role begin before this year ends, and so that's the only item I can think of that's increasing in intensity right now rather than decreasing. Phew!

So, my pledge to myself and to our family is this: with the advent of warmer weather, here are the things I'd like to be "too busy" doing in May:

• riding bikes
• going to the park
• reading books
• going to bed early or late--whatever works!
• watching Maia build forts and write stories
  
• visiting friends
• wearing flip-flops
• running
• going to the Farmer's Market
• drinking coffee at outdoor tables downtown
  
• watching kids' soccer games
• helping Eli learn to talk and walk
• planting vegetables
• helping Maia do science experiments