Musings from last January

24 Jan Musings from last January

I love this shot from Saturday. I tried to upload it the other day when I posted, but the computer wasn’t cooperating.

Anyway, today as we walked in the lightly falling snow, I was reminded of some thoughts I wrote last year around this time. With a 3 month old baby, all I had time to write were short practices from A Creative Writer’s Kit by Judy Reeves. Actually, I’m impressed that I kept that up as well as I did because I still sometimes only have time for those. Perhaps I should step out of the Bloggersphere more often . . . But, I digress. The Kit includes a book of prompts for writing. The prompt for January 29th is “The end of the day.” I thought I’d post it here, partly because I haven’t posted any “real” writing yet (so its only audience has been my Writing Group) and partly to encourage other moms to remember what’s important–not the neatness of the house. (Unless it’s dangerous, of course!)

January 29, 2007
The end of the day.
“At the end of the day you’re another day older.” Sometimes it seems that’s all another day has brought about. In these busy times when I need to—want to—put my baby’s happiness ahead of the housework, days go by with much left undone. I’m thankful that our study is in an out-of-the-way corner of the upstairs. Still, when I come here to write, or to nurse the baby while I surf the net, I see the mess. Piles of papers lie on both desks and the floor. A reminder of the day last week when I decided to sort through the bills and receipts and articles in need of filing. Some were filed, and others organized into stacks. And many were left in their original piles. I need more than an hour of naptime to finish that job.

Yet, when I get up from writing to feed the baby, I know I won’t bring her back in here when I’m finished to watch me sort papers. Part of me wants to. But a greater part of me wants her to have quality Mommy time. So we pick a book and she sits in my lap, looking at the pictures for the most part, while I read. Or I show her the toys multiplying in the nursery closet and we choose one to play with. I talk to her and try to make her laugh. I put on some music and we dance. We go for a walk up the road to see the cows on the farm. But usually she falls asleep before we get there. And the study sits messy at the end of the day.

There was a time when the house was cleaner. Everything was neatly put away. One day held enough time to start and finish the laundry. There will be a time like that again. But it’s not now. And it shouldn’t be.

On January 20th, the Christmas decorations were still out, their bins sitting around the living room, partially packed. I finally finished putting them away that day. But, I had reminded myself over and over as the days flew by, that they would eventually get put away. They wouldn’t sit there forever. Sometimes I lose perspective. I think about how the tub needs to be scrubbed and I haven’t cleaned the guest bathroom since our last guests departed. And I can’t remember the last time I mopped the kitchen floor. I let it make me crazy.

But sometimes I remember that it’s more important to use the few minutes between feedings and loads of laundry to call a friend or sip a cup of tea by myself. And then, at the end of the day, the study is still littered with papers. But I check on my sleeping baby and I think about her big smile and how she feels in my arms and how much she’s grown already. And even though much is left undone, the day has been well spent.