Maxfield held his hand out the window of the car as I drove him to school. The wind was catching his open palm, his fingers surfed slightly on the air. There was a slight drizzle of rain. I asked his if his hand was getting all wet.
"No. The wind is drying it real fast." he said smiling. "I can feel the rain drops and then they dry. This must be what it feels like when you turn invisible. Like if you could disappear."
I smiled into the rear view mirror marveling at his imagination.
A little bit ago Miss Zoot had an interesting post about procrastinating. Part of the post said (and she was quoting something/someone else):
"One of the characteristics of a person who does too much is procrastination. Often, our busyness is a subtle form of procrastination that keeps us away from what we really need to be doing."
I try to stay busy. When I am at home with the kids I am always trying to stay busy with laundry, dishes, or small projects. I tell them I can't play space ship because I need to weed the garden. I can't play super heroes because I need to clean the grill. I am not able to be a pirate on the swing set because I need to rake up the sticks.
The kids always ask and I am often too busy. Do all the chores need to get done? Yes. Do they need to get completed at that moment, right then? No. But I am being practical. I am being responsible. No imagination is needed to mow the lawn.
So the quote from Miss Zoot's blog has been pinging around the inside of my head a for a couple of weeks now. I keep asking myself "Am I doing too much? What am I avoiding that I really should be doing?"
It is only a matter of time before the kids stop asking me to play, before I disapear from their fantasy worlds. I realize I need to be the astronaut, the hero or the pirate more often.
I think about what Max said in the car, I really need to re-learn what it feels like to turn invisible before I disappear altogether.
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17 comments:
I can think of nothing to add to this because I don't want to shadow the lesson of this. I can say, however, that I get this. I need to do the same thing, too. I sometimes end my day wondering why I wasted so much time on some pointless task when I could have been truly present in moment with my boys. The last line of this post is going to be the one I take away and have rattling around in my head.
(and yep, so much for that not saying a lot of things business...)
This is officially my favorite of all your posts.
YOU DO THE LAUNDRY?!?
Why did you bother getting married then?
I kid.
Great post. I can't say that I am always too busy to play with my kids, but I do find myself declining their invitations more than I'd like.
I sit here convicted.
Thank you for writing this.
Awesome perspective. And you are completely right. The laundry will wait. The weeding will wait. The children growing up? That will not wait.
Great post. We all need to have a little more fun, and put our priorities into perspective. Thanks for this.
Whoa whoa whoa.... Wait wait wait... You do dishes?? And laundry?? Whaaaaaat??? I ... I just don't know what to say.... How quickly can you come teach my husband to do these things????
Something that's been pinging around in my head for several months came from a fellow blogger mom, who simply started asking herself, "Why not?" more often when her kids would ask for her time, attention, etc. I think as a parent, we wear so many different hats, and it's such a delicate balance being everything we're supposed to be. You do a good job, Bill.
Now, honestly! William, you are not doing laundry, and weeding the garden. You are not building book shelves. You are reading your favorite author, what's his name? You are writing your blog. you are learning your lines for the play.. you're at work, doing what? While Lauren is doing it all!!!!You can't fool me! And some of these people BELIEVE you!!!!!
We need a guest blogger here real soon. This blog is becoming more fiction than fact.
I think you should have "anonymous" guest blog, she's much funnier and truthful.
How is this for magic?
I can not remember Skip ever saying no to playing or whatever. I can remember many of the yesses.
Fern Park, Hoops in the driveway, bicycle test, ride home from practice.
You are not invisible, you are part woman though.
I love this post. Very much. And your family is cracking me up.
Dont you wish Lauren would ask you to be the Pirate,Astronaut, or Hero more often?
Amen, brother.
p.s. my word verification word is "peelated" there's gotta be a sniglet for that...
I still remember my father telling me his shoulder was sore whenever I wanted to play catch.
I hope that I can remember that when I am a dad...
I also I hope I remember this post.
What a great post. You're right. Soon they will stop asking and I don't want that to happen any sooner than it has to.
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