A Quiet Day

Last night as I was fixing supper, washing dishes, sweeping the floor and changing batches of laundry my three year old was standing with the refrigerator door open screaming because I wouldn't let him have a snack ten minutes before supper, my nine year old was refusing to do his homework and my eleven year old was asking for help with her homework.  At that very moment I couldn't help but think about being somewhere else.  I was tired after a long day of working and doing mom chores and now I was still busy and I just wanted some quiet time. 

I thought about walking barefoot on a sandy beach.  I could feel the powdery sand between my toes and a cool breeze blowing through my hair.  The sun was bright and I felt it's warmth on my back.  I quickly snapped back to reality at the smell of burning meat.  I finished browning my burger and added a few more ingredients to the pot for chili and then I was thinking about a day shopping.  I thought it would be fun to get up in the morning, go shopping, stop for a sit down lunch with a friend, maybe get a massage, see a movie and come home to a clean house and well behaved children with slicked down hair and clean shirts on.  They'd greet me at the door, "Hello mother, we do hope you had a wonderful outing."

I'm laughing out loud thinking of that because typically when I do get a day away I come home to a messy house, three children trying to talk to me at once, one of them will have food on his face, another will have either wore yet another whole in the knee of his jeans or spilled something on his shirt at lunch that day.

The thing is we all deserve a quiet day now and then and we shouldn't feel guilty for taking them.  It's ironic how now we look forward to a quiet day here and there to break up the insane ones and one day we'll be looking forward to having them all come home for an insane day to break up the quiet ones. 

I think we should all try to schedule a quiet day in the near future.  Write down what you'd like to do or where you'd like to go.  Plan it out to make it the most refreshing and enjoyable for you.  If we can get a break now and then it will make us better mother's and don't our children deserve that.  You are taking a break from your kids FOR your kids. 

I've told myself for months and months that one of these days I'm just going to sit home by myself and watch movies all day and eat all my favorite foods. Or I'd love to sit home and read all day and eat my favorite foods.  Well, I know my day would consist of being home alone and eating. 

Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day - like writing a poem or saying a prayer.
Anne Marrow Lindbergh