{with my girl a couple of years ago--when we got fancy for our walk}
The way I see it, there are two parenting styles. There are parents who are planners, organized, and on top of it. Then there are my people...
I had a distinct feeling in the pit of my stomach that I had missed something important when I dropped Priss off at school. I smiled when I saw a little girl hop out of her car wearing a pretty twirl skirt, and told her how pretty she looked. Then I started noticing a lot of kids had really dressed extra today. This seemed weird on the day when Alexa laughed at us when we checked the weather. Maybe it's because she overheard our proclamation that by finally putting up our fall decorations we would single-handedly be responsible for everyone waking up to a crisp, glorious morning? With what can only be described as a snarky voice, she reminded us to wear fire proof pants because the forecast was yet again "the surface of the actual sun".
As I passed a little boy wearing a velvet vest with a pocket square, I had a sinking, vague memory of seeing a sign...the kind that alluded to "picture day is coming some day in the future, no need to even bother your busy little head with it". Whatever...I chose to high five myself for being the mother who caused the other negligent parents to feel better about themselves....Because I am pretty sure my little princess was wearing the shirt she slept in. Because she spent all morning rolling around in bed whining about how unfair life is to expect her to wake up. Honestly, I was just proud she had pants on when we flew out of the drive way with our unbrushed hair practically on fire--(probably because we live on the surface of the sun....)
I want to fake it, and say this is soooo an isolated incident, but this morning my rule-following man sits in traffic court because he realized yesterday that you have to pay the ticket BEFORE the little date on your citation, even if you just don't want to. Fortunately, he was smart enough to send me hilarious 'how I feel about life right now' texts, right before he had to turn off his phone, because our judicial system wants you to think about what you did, so they put you in screen time out--length undetermined. (It's kind of poetic justice, because we've been known to forget we put the kids in timeout.) His last text went something like: "they won't just let me pay it. have to sit in court. have to turn off my phone...." then "oh wait! I know a couple of people in here" So maybe court isn't time out, maybe they are just reminding people to put down their phones and reconnect. I bet they look through Facebook friends and coordinate court dates intentionally...Justice served Positive Polly style.
A couple of years ago I did a bible study that taught the importance of creating margin in your life. I wish I had really learned to practice that truth. I laugh at our life, make it funny, but I do wonder sometimes what it costs us to pack so many things into our day. There are a lot of days I hear myself yelling at one of my people to hurry up, and it hits me that I don't love the consequences of extreme chaos. There are other days that I have said yes to a million relationship things and fun things, and I'm not one bit sad about it. I think we all need varied amounts of down time and margin for the unexpected. I think it's ok to say yes to more than you meant to, but it's also ok to say no when you realize it has stopped being wise to expect your people to just keep going.
For me, I'll be late to a breakfast date with friends this morning. I"ll swing by school and run a hairbrush through pretty golden hair and let her put on a clean shirt. I'll spend quality time with amazing friends and buy a boujee breakfast before I find out that Brad spent all our money in speeding court. I'll come home and finish decorating for fall, cook a big meal, take the kids to guitar and ballet, then I'll welcome new people into our house for small group. I will be so thankful young adults still show up every week so Brad and I can love on them, teach them about Jesus, disciple them. Because no matter how tired we get, we have decided that it's always worth it to say yes to relationships and quality time. Tomorrow, I'll wake up with just as much belief and expectation as I did this morning that Alexa will tell me the new day will be crisp and glorious. I choose joy. I choose people. I choose life lived to it's fullest. I choose to laugh at stupid mistakes. I choose to not get my panties in a wad if I have to be late. I choose to look for the good, look for purpose, look for moments.
How do you know it's time to slow down? How do you choose what to say no to? What have you decided is worth it, even when you know you'll be exhausted?