Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, savour you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it will not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky, and want, more than all the world, your return.
-Mary Jean Irion
Have you ever just dismissed today because you choose to think about tomorrow instead? It's one thing to prepare for things that are to come and quite another to never live in the moment and experience what is happening in the present. I'm a chronic worrier. Even if things are going well, I just create new worries so I can sustain a low hum of mental mayhem. I don't seem to feel productive without it, but it drives me crazy that I do that. It is hard work to quiet the nagging voices of unfinished business. For instance, I'll be engaged in some activity that I really should be 'present' for, like driving, grocery shopping, nursing the baby, or reading and doing schoolwork with the kids and have found it difficult to not think about everything else that is going on (ie; it's time to start dinner, the plants need watering, did we pay that bill??, I should be finishing --fill in the blank--). I just need to internalize the wisdom found within the words above: there is no telling what tomorrow will hold, but in the quiet comfort of a 'normal' today, where everything is as it should be, I should rejoice that it is so.
I am not the only one in our household who cannot live in the present. Jordan always has to be in the know of what will be happening next. Even when involved in some highly engaging activity (like enjoying a day at the zoo), he wants to know what are we doing after we are done. Can he play the Wii when we get home? Can he invite a friend over to play? When are we going camping? What are we having for dinner? Is it time to go yet???? I worry (see, I told you I was a chronic worrier!) about how much Jordan misses out on by never being in the present. I hope that some day he figures it out.
A 'normal' day for us does not involve alarm clocks, a frantic dashing out the door or driving in heavy morning traffic. We don't pack lunches or bookbags. We don't stand on a corner waiting for a school bus or drop off kiddos at daycare. We don't scramble to make afterschool soccer practice or struggle through piles of homework in the evenings. We don't impose a strict bedtime. We sometimes (gasp) spend our entire day in pajamas. Our version of 'normal' is vastly different than what the majority of American families experience. This is relatively new for us though - we have only been homeschooling for one year. We love our new normal though - it has brought us all closer together.
Here are a variety of 'normal' school days:
Normal can be pretty wonderful. :)
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