Every Spring, my students' motivation goes in the toilet. I assume they're out enjoying sunshine and doing more interesting things than financial models for Econ. :) I don't blame them.
There's a huge surge of emails and apology voice mails this time of year, for poor performance in the last few days or week. And so I can type this reply at lightening speed:
"No worries. This happens to all of us during our education, I assure you. Everyone has an 'off week.' Your final grade will be based on trends and not one-time events. Just keep moving forward!"
I typed it 5 times tonight. And on the 4th or 5th one, something clicked in me. This is what I need sent to me some days, as a mother.
We all have off weeks. Or days we don't love motherhood. But what does the trend look like? What's the big picture of how our children are treated and viewed? When they think about their mom and how they were loved, what will they remember?
If I focus more on the trends, I can feel much more confident of how things are going. I love how my children find joy in things, how they treat people, their boundless curiosity. I have a sense I'll feel triumph over the final product, even if there were a few "missing assignments" along the way. :)
Monday, May 24, 2010
Big Life
To be feeling like life is Big seems a strange undercurrent to living in a place smaller than my Carmel apartment during my post-college internship. :)
And tonight, leaving to go to work, I was stunned by how messy the place was for how little things we have there! Steve is a wondrous human spirit, so perhaps he read my mind and is cleaning it as we speak. Or perhaps he's as mired in the minutiae of feeding/clothing/playing with 3 children as I can be during the day...so the cleaning will wait. :) If so, good for him. I understand.
Today was supposed to be our No-Seriously-We're-Not-Doing-Anything Day. No playdate, no fun outings, no berry picking, no museums, nothing. Jack's Birthday Bash was yesterday, and the yummy wonder of it all filled all of our spirits. I figured we could ride that high for another day.
In the bustle of the weekend, though, our place was filled with half-done things. Laundry not folded (I'd actually gotten better about that!), dishes not done, toilets to clean, blah blah blah. Boring life stuff that didn't sound nearly as fun as a marathon lunch with friends on Saturday (that lasted until 11PM!) and planning a party with a party-loving almost-6 year old.
So today I was going to stay home and do productive things. Then about 11AM, I got a tingling sensation to go out wandering, so I loaded the kids in the car and we drove to Sandbridge. We've talked about doing a winter beach rental there, since we only need a place Sept-May anyway. They'd kick us out just as we want to leave anyway, as the school year is over. I wanted to check it out, especially a particular house we saw online.
Across the street from the house was the beach...so of course my kids wanted to get out and play. And we ended up having a impromptu beach time for quite awhile. For a Midwestern Girl, this never-ever-ever gets old. There's a revolving monologue in my head shrieking: "My children are at the ocean!" Considering it's been walking distance away for 2 years, I don't quite get the glee. But hey. Glee is good.
How we went from Do Laundry Folding Day to running around on a desolate beach, I guess I'm not surprised. That's my strength in motherhood. Giving experiences, having impromptu adventures, talking about philosophical wonderings with a 3 and almost-6 year old for the 30 minute drive to Sandbridge.
Folding laundry? Not my strength. :) Which is why I picked up my hubby's work shirts from the dry cleaner on the way home from said beach.
I can point to many things that are happening in our lives to point us down a new path. I was telling a friend it's like there are dominoes being set up in a line. Something is happening. I can feel it and I love it. Whether it takes us to something profoundly different - career change or geography or what - I don't really know or care. But I can see that we're on the path we're supposed to be on, because there's this content peace settling over things. I'm really loving where we're at...and where we're headed, even if it's just a renewed sense of priorities.
Running on that desolate beach, and seeing my children's hair whipping in the wind? Somehow, that summed up everything that is happening right now. We're going to suck the marrow out of the day, even if laundry waits until tomorrow. Or the next day.
And tonight, leaving to go to work, I was stunned by how messy the place was for how little things we have there! Steve is a wondrous human spirit, so perhaps he read my mind and is cleaning it as we speak. Or perhaps he's as mired in the minutiae of feeding/clothing/playing with 3 children as I can be during the day...so the cleaning will wait. :) If so, good for him. I understand.
Today was supposed to be our No-Seriously-We're-Not-Doing-Anything Day. No playdate, no fun outings, no berry picking, no museums, nothing. Jack's Birthday Bash was yesterday, and the yummy wonder of it all filled all of our spirits. I figured we could ride that high for another day.
In the bustle of the weekend, though, our place was filled with half-done things. Laundry not folded (I'd actually gotten better about that!), dishes not done, toilets to clean, blah blah blah. Boring life stuff that didn't sound nearly as fun as a marathon lunch with friends on Saturday (that lasted until 11PM!) and planning a party with a party-loving almost-6 year old.
So today I was going to stay home and do productive things. Then about 11AM, I got a tingling sensation to go out wandering, so I loaded the kids in the car and we drove to Sandbridge. We've talked about doing a winter beach rental there, since we only need a place Sept-May anyway. They'd kick us out just as we want to leave anyway, as the school year is over. I wanted to check it out, especially a particular house we saw online.
Across the street from the house was the beach...so of course my kids wanted to get out and play. And we ended up having a impromptu beach time for quite awhile. For a Midwestern Girl, this never-ever-ever gets old. There's a revolving monologue in my head shrieking: "My children are at the ocean!" Considering it's been walking distance away for 2 years, I don't quite get the glee. But hey. Glee is good.
How we went from Do Laundry Folding Day to running around on a desolate beach, I guess I'm not surprised. That's my strength in motherhood. Giving experiences, having impromptu adventures, talking about philosophical wonderings with a 3 and almost-6 year old for the 30 minute drive to Sandbridge.
Folding laundry? Not my strength. :) Which is why I picked up my hubby's work shirts from the dry cleaner on the way home from said beach.
I can point to many things that are happening in our lives to point us down a new path. I was telling a friend it's like there are dominoes being set up in a line. Something is happening. I can feel it and I love it. Whether it takes us to something profoundly different - career change or geography or what - I don't really know or care. But I can see that we're on the path we're supposed to be on, because there's this content peace settling over things. I'm really loving where we're at...and where we're headed, even if it's just a renewed sense of priorities.
Running on that desolate beach, and seeing my children's hair whipping in the wind? Somehow, that summed up everything that is happening right now. We're going to suck the marrow out of the day, even if laundry waits until tomorrow. Or the next day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)