Newton's First Law

Objects, or in our case, a family in motion stays in motion. 

 

And, man, we are motioning all over the place these days.  For instance...

 

How can tomorrow be April?

 

March blew through our house like a tempest. I turned around and, hey...wait...what...was that...?  Yes.  That was March. 

 

April will undoubtedly move faster still, with school and work and church and swim lessons and soccer and ballet and band all wrestling with our precious time.  And then there's Easter.

 

Sigh. 

 

Why all this motion? 

 

These precious days of our young kids growing and learning and experiencing and enjoying and absorbing...they are becoming blurry (and not just because my memory sucks). Time just moves too darn fast.  Add activities to the mix and, well, it just accelerates.  Because we're moving more.  And faster.  And I don't like it. 

 

We want to cultivate in our kids a love and appreciation for socializing and hobbies and sports and art and music.  And we are blessed to be able to offer them those opportunities.  But Rich and I always said we didn't want to fill every moment of our kids' days with an activity.  Because they need time, and selfishly so do we, to just...be.

 

Be.  Still.

 

 

To play, catch bugs, hop scotch, ride bikes, sing songs, fish, be goofy, read, watch movies, talk, listen, learn how to tell a good joke, truly be part of a family, foster strong friendships that will stand the test of time, acquire the skill of finding contentedness in the quiet alone times that can only be found when you're not running from one place to the next. 

 

It seems that my attempt at striking that balance resulted in an epic fail for the month of April. 

 

Oh well.  Live and learn. 

 

The kids will enjoy everything we signed them up for.  Rich and I will enjoy watching them make memories with friends and games and recitals.  The logistics may bite the big one, but hopefully we'll be able to get everybody where they're supposed to be at the right time and have fun while we're doing it. 

 

I have been told that this will only get worse as our kids get older, as they become more interested in different things.  And that's fine.  I want and will do what's best for them. 

 

And part of what's best for them is finding balance in their lives. 

 

They don't always need to be going and doing.  We get enough of that as adults when responsibilities fill up our days instead of long talks and good books and lazy warm afternoons spent with loved ones on blankets looking for animals in the clouds.