You know what I cannot believe? Today is the first day of July.
What happened to June? Oh, yeah, it was a trip to Texas and the ACCS conference in Atlanta and just keeping up the in between times.
A friend visiting from Oregon asked me this morning how my week was looking so we could plan a visit. It made me laugh because life can feel a bit like I’m a jockey trying to settle a horse down that just wants to gallop away as fast and far as it can.
But last week I mentioned that I am reading Learning Contentment and having a quiet, or contented heart, no matter the circumstances and needing to take steps to feel a little less at the mercy of activities and schedules.
So this morning when I woke up just after six I went ahead and got out of bed. It is a bad habit of mine that if there is no reason for me to be awake before seven I will make myself doze a bit longer and just stay in bed. In the interest of not feeling like I am trying to leap onto the back of a horse as it runs by like some kind of trick riding rodeo cowgirl I actually got up. And happily mind you, not grumpily or just resigned to it.
I am working to be mindful that giving myself a quiet morning will go a long way to having a quiet heart. To that end I turned on the coffee pot, feed the cats and grabbed my yoga mat and went out beside the pool. It was not unbearably hot and so I settled down to do some stretches and think a bit on what I am reading.
Picture it. The sun is coming up but still tucked behind the neighbor’s house. The fountain in the pool is adding it’s own tranquil chorus to the occasional bird song and there I am on my comfy yoga mat, inhaling and exhaling.
Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Of course as I began to do more than breathe it took on the look of a Mr. Bean episode but the point is that I am making the effort to begin my day in a quiet place. It lent itself naturally and easily to a time of prayer and thanksgiving.
It was a good way to begin the week that is already striding toward being cluttered.
What else is going on a round here?
Most notably our oldest daughter moved into her first apartment on Saturday. In case you’re new to my life she graduated from nursing school in December and works at an area hospital emergency room. Her apartment is about three minutes from her work and about twenty minutes from us so she’s close but also on her own. It was a good exercise for me to let her make determinations herself about what she wanted and what mattered to her without me forcing my own opinions and trying to set it up for her. (But I did sort of push a tiny bit on the importance of having canisters for flour and sugar and such even if they’re in the pantry.) Three of the other four kids have, at separate times, asked me how we would do our 12 Day of Christmas with Sarah not living at home anymore. For some reason that makes me laugh. I’m not sure if they are concerned on her behalf or that we will decide to jettison the tradition. We won’t but I guess I will need to consider how that will look with her not living at home when I begin to plan.
I took our fourth child driving yesterday. That was, umm, fun. A little jerky as she is working to get the feel of the vehicle. A friend had mentioned that the university campus is practically deserted this time of year and a great place to learn to drive and he was right. Lots of road with enough stop lights and turns to give plenty of practice. I tried to work a little bit on parking and backing out of a parking spot. Let’s just say that it is a good thing there weren’t a lot of cars around and Imma let her daddy help her with that 😉 All in all she did really well considering it is only her third time behind the wheel of a car.
But that is quite enough milestone parenting for one weekend, don’t you agree?
The Common Place 