:: who needs meditation ::

i vividly remember thinking in my early twenties that i would never be so busy that i'd hear myself say there just aren't enough hours in the day. a graduate student at the time, i was no stranger to long days, close deadlines, and stress. but even when i was working 40 hours a week at starbucks and attending school fulltime, i still had free time. i went for a run whenever i wanted to. i never felt pressed to plan my errand-running in the most efficient way. i read books in the afternoon sometimes.

i was 22. i was unencumbered.

now, not so much. i'm busy. i can't get it all done. i literally don't have enough hours in each day. this morning i had to sit my kid in front of the TV with elmo visits the doctor so that i could pay bills that i hadn't had time to pay over the last three days (i always pay this set of bills between the 18th and the 21st to ensure that they arrive on time). it was not a good start to the day.

all those years in grad school, unemcumbered as they started (i was in grad school for eight years, mind you), did teach me about time management, about prioritizing, about list-making. but they didn't really teach me about how to make the most of even the fullest days.

work-at-home parenthood is teaching me that.

today it was a trip to starbucks with my sister-in-law and nieces and videos of the three kids dancing around our table. it was nectarines, eaten with evan on the deck in bare feet. it was a sprinkler in the front yard while i knocked three quick items off my to-do list (dear laptop, i love you). and then we got out the burley. (best craigslist find ever.)

julie and evan: 1; bad moods: 0.
stress can eat our dust.

tell me: what do you do to stay sane when you haven't had time for a shower in two days?