When was the last time you did something you truly loved, but no longer have the time for?
(This is going to be kind of rambly. Consider yourself forewarned.)
I’m still thinking about some of the things I wrote last time regarding coping with my abundance. I appreciated two other posts today because they touched on two things I’ve been contemplating:
- How many clothes are enough?
- If you don’t have time to do something you really love, what is out of whack in your life?
Meredith and Lanier touched on these topics in recent entries.
These are not new topics for me. David and I have been working on simplifying and prioritizing for the better part of nine years. We’ve asked these questions lots of times. We’ve made changes accordingly.
But having a baby changes everything (with apologies to Johnson and Johnson).
David said the other day something about why it seems like he never has time to read or do other things. I’ve noticed my severe lack of reading and other creative endeavors. (Reading is like water to me. I shrivel up and die without it.) It didn’t take me long to remind him that we would have plenty of time to read if we didn’t spend (ahem) many segments of time every day playing with Caroline, taking pictures, shooting video, and just generally hanging on her every coo and movement.
Oh well. The books can wait. What can they say that can possibly be more interesting than “Nin!” and “Ahooey!”?
Anyway, I loved Meredith’s closet makeover, including the photo of herself as a bride. Hmmm…. I’ve been contemplating lately the fact that I do not weigh what I weighed when I married David. Not. even. close.
And I loved what Lanier said about her music: I’ve realized that when I’m too busy to make music, I’m too busy to be living properly. It’s that important to – I wonder that I can ever forget!
So I’m trying to figure out what living properly means with a new baby.
And whether I will be able to ever fit into my wedding dress again.
Living A Quiet Life
I am constantly reminding my daughter that with tiny ones at home, one does well to get a healthy meal on the table and keep her toddler alive by the end of the day. She has three children under age five.
She was an interior designer before having her first child and (gladly) staying home. She was also a Dean Scholar at her university. Her husband is a professor so he still gets a lot of “intellectual stimulation”. Although, he is wonderful about helping with the kids, too.
I’ve been finding books for her that she can read one-chapter-at-a-time. Inspiring books like Elisabeth Elliot. Although she has my entire library of homeschooling books and books by other Christian women we both admire, finding books that can be read and absorbed one chapter at a time has been helpful.
The only book I know that she has read all the way through is Crunchy Cons. She read parts of it to me over the phone! Her husband has to commute to work so he listens to books on tape every day.
You are SO right, the books will be here but the baby is only a baby for a few months (which will seem like seconds in a lifetime).