I love making plans. In fact, I often enjoy planning things more than I enjoy doing the actual things!
When I am feeling overwhelmed, I comfort myself by looking to the future and making plans for the next season. When school is going on, I think how much easier everything will be when I can sleep later, not have to drive anyone anywhere, and not have homework to deal with, and I make plans to fill all that extra time. When it’s summer, I fantasize about school starting, being back on a schedule, and not having the kids underfoot, and I make new plans.
My original plan for the summer was quite ambitious and was all about things I wanted to do for myself. I was going to go to the gym regularly again, I was going to walk several mornings, and I was going to go to Mass a couple of times during the week. I had a plan in my head for what I would do each day. Once I made it, I thought it over often and looked forward to implementing it.
But I didn’t follow that plan. If you’ve been reading this summer, you’ll already know what I did instead. I have to work, albeit at home, and there just wasn’t time to do what I wanted for myself AND for the kids. So, I gave up all my own self-improvement plans, and devoted myself to giving my children a fabulous summer instead.
And you know what? It WAS a fabulous summer. For the first time in years, I really wasn’t eager to get back into the school routine, because we’d had a routine–a fun one–that gave shape to our days. We weren’t bored and stir crazy and sick of each other. It was delightful!
This year, Lorelei went back to school after having been homeschooled for four years. I am now blissfully alone in the house for hours every day. Taking kids to school has almost always been John’s responsibility for the past twenty-plus years. But Lorelei and William attend schools that start at the same time and are in opposite directions from our house, so this year I must leave the house each morning to drive one of them to school.
When I realized this, a plan formed almost by itself, and I feel safe telling you about it now since I’ve followed it more or less successfully for a month (yes, school has been in session THAT LONG ALREADY down here).
Mondays and Fridays, I drive Lorelei to school. Her school happens to be right across the street from the closest Catholic church, which offers morning Mass at 9:00 a.m. Furthermore, there is a walking trail on the grounds of this church. So after I drop her off, I take a walk while saying a rosary until it is time for Mass.
Part of the walking trail at All Saints
Tuesdays and Thursdays, I take William to school. The gym I belong to just happens to lie on the route home. So now I stop and work out, so far for only about half an hour but I am adding time each week.
Wednesdays William has a morning appointment so I take him to school when we are finished and then generally head straight home to work.
I am so excited and pleased with myself. For me the biggest hurdle to doing pretty much anything is making myself leave the house. Now that I have no choice but to leave the house every morning, the rest is easy. I love my new schedule which has me back home ready to begin work around 10 a.m.
It would be nice to work in writing time somewhere, but you can’t have everything. 🙂
