A Thousand Days of Summer ? This is your real mother speaking?

24 Jul 2012

by chalkdustfairy in (because I'm just silly...), Life, Moms, Parenting, Writing

My kids on the trail out of Spruce House ruins at Mesa Verde

With the end of summer vacation near and the start of school just around the corner, I?m taking stock of how I?ve spent my time these past few months. And as usual, I?ve fallen short of my expectations. The summer seemed to fly by in a haze of doctor appointments, scouting activities, campouts and trips here and there. The boys have been busy with scouting and summer jobs, with the one finishing up a correspondence math course. My oldest was busy finishing up her first year of college (she?s on the Winter/Spring tracks at BYU-Idaho, going from the first of January to the middle of July). Then there is my greatest source of guilt, my youngest. None of my big plans with her have materialized, as of yet. Not that they were that big to begin with. I thought maybe we would do a lot of cooking together, bake bread, compile a recipe book for her?maybe get in some sewing practice. But it hasn?t panned out that way, unfortunately. To make matters worse, we decided not to do swimming this summer. The trip into Albuquerque and back can cost anywhere from ten to thirteen dollars a day, depending on the price of gas, and it was one of those things, among many things, we have had to let go in these years of ?Hope and Change?.? All I can say is that I hope they change soon.

Coming off a scout trip

To be honest, besides her daily jobs, riding her bike, the friends she has over to play and the occasional book I see lying around, I?m not sure what my youngest child has been doing all summer! And maybe there?s a part of me that really doesn?t want to know, i.e. feel worse than I already do! I know how it goes when you?re the youngest. I was the youngest myself. You just learn to entertain yourself when everyone else is busy.

Kate, swimming in the hotel pool

Kate and her friends playing dress-up

The summer?hasn?t?been a complete loss, however. We?ve gone some fun places and done a lot of fun things: tubing the river at Villanueva a couple of times, exploring the ruins at Mesa Verde and the geysers and falls at Yellowstone. We?ve traveled through some beautiful country, gone swimming, went to a chuck wagon dinner and show, as well as the melodrama/musical, Annie Get Your Gun. We spent holidays and birthdays in the company of good friends. We reconnected with our loved ones that live far away. Maybe it?wasn?t?jam packed every day and there was the monotony of chores to do, but it wasn?t half bad.

Fourth of July water fight with the Stuart kids

Playing in the Pecos at Villanueva

Now I?m looking ahead to those days when the kids are in school. It?s going to be strange having whole days to myself after spending all my time with my kids. I haven?t done any writing to speak of this whole summer and?I?ve?mostly neglected this blog. But there is a time and a season for everything, and this fall might be the season for writing.

Recently I visited a blog called Onethousandsingledays@wordpress.com. It chronicles the commitment of this blogger to forego relationships with men (she?s single, of course- though many a married woman might occasionally day dream about doing that!) and all that entails, to focus on a thousand days of self-reflection, self-exploration, self-development and writing. I was impressed. Could I embark on a commitment to a thousand days of writing? A hundred might be more my speed! Maybe ten would be a reasonable place to start? I?m notorious for being consistently inconsistent. Still, I?m giving it serious consideration

?Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.? Paul Rudnick says? and he is so right! When I get out of the ?writing groove?, it?s really hard for me to get back in it. That?s not because I don?t have anything to write about- I?m always working on something in my head (I have stacks of notes- on napkins, newspaper clippings, etc., to prove it) but because it requires discipline. (I blame my lack of and dislike of discipline on being the youngest!)

Inspired by Onethousandsingledays, I got up this morning before any of my kids and spent some time working on an essay and a short story about a pair of red shoes (ya, I know it?s probably already been done?) just cursory notes and ideas scribbled on sheets of white paper, pages that I will add to the pile of other notes and scribbles on my bookshelves and my desk. But it?s a start. I haven?t quite committed in my mind to the thousand days, but I?m practicing. There?s still children to take care of for the next couple of weeks; wisdom teeth removal to deal with, braces to come off, dentist and eye doctor visits, service projects, a back packing trip?the list goes on and on. I?m thinking, though, that August 17th might be the first day of my own thousand day quest. Wish me luck!

My messy desk

Source: http://thisisyourrealmotherspeaking.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/a-thousand-days-of-summer/

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