Savoring ordinary days
(Nov 1st as I wrote this) Sitting by the fire it’s nearly 5 pm on a Sunday evening, my youngest son is playing on the back porch in his superhero pajamas helping me prune our mums. My oldest son is watching an animal show with his dad on the couch. I’ve just finished this week’s round of assignments and deadlines for school in time to do it all over again tomorrow…the bags from our weekend trip wait to be unpacked in the corner.
I feel all the to-dos and needs of a new week calling for me. The laundry waiting to be washed and folded and the groceries to be bought, meals to be planned, school bags to be packed for tomorrow…but this present ordinary moment beckoning to be savored. Sleepy parents and children on daylight savings, our family of four weary from life, but intact. Our home messy and in need of repairs ( like us ) but standing… the sun is setting early. The crickets are chirping fires crackling. I sit tired, but in this rare moment not anxious- an improvement from the previous days, weeks, and months. listening to the crackling fire. My soul calling me to be still. Even as my mind is trying to race ahead to tomorrow.
(Nov 17th as I write this) I think back to November of last year and in some ways find life has repeated itself… I feel mentally, emotionally, physically and in all ways stretched thin, worn out, exhausted. As a student working mom, this has been my reality during the holidays. The hardest most stressful moment of the semester coinciding with what’s supposed to be the most magical and beautiful celebrated moments of the year with our family and my children. I struggle to find what’s different this year… only I know it’s not just Christmas eve and Christmas day we’re moving towards. It’s the hope and anticipation that came with a king in a manger. It’s not just one morning with a pile of presents we may not be able to get this year. It’s all the ordinary days and moments that happen before that I miss when they are over. Decorating the home, making cookies, the lights… I worry about what it will be like this year. But I know the messy less glamorous moments of our days and weeks are just beautiful and holy. The early school mornings when the house is still cold and the leaves and grass are frosted over, the evenings when I feel like I can’t go any longer and dinner still needs to be cooked and there are wild children running in the house because it’s too dark to play outside. The challenging season of 4 people in 700 sq feet and being on a student/intern budget as a family. The ordinary…still worth savoring. So I’m doing what I told my children to do when they “savor”. Closing my eyes, taking a deep breath, and breathing it all in.
*This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in this series "Savor".
