The Importance of Maintaining Newness

... if it isn't an oxymoron. I had the oil changed today, so I needed to be around the oil-change-place, but not at home. I had originally planned to bring work and sit in their waiting area while the work was done, but boy am I glad I brought baby with me and was forced to WALK instead.

We had a glorious time, beautiful weather, walked around the lake (not the whole way), met a dear friend and talked a while, got WAY more exercise than I generally do on a Tuesday morning. Baby got a nice nap and I got to see people and places and sights that are normally not part of my life. And the whole time I was thinking, "This is great! I love walking with baby, why don't I do it more often? Look at all these people! They're exercising, spending time with friends, reading, people watching -- good for them! Why is this the first time that I've taken this route? And one of the first few that I've done more than just think about how nice it would be to walk down here?"

Now, I know the quick answer, which is that I don't have time. But I know myself and my schedule well enough to know that I have time for things when I make it. Meaning, if it's urgent enough, it'll get done. Like, say, feeding the children. They get downright noisy if you don't give them food. That's why my plants don't always do so well. They're too quiet.

The longer answer is that I am, well, consumed by my "to do" list. I feel compelled to get-things-done. Which is why, on lazy Sundays (I love that about this country), I often get bummed that I'm not doing enough. I should be taking advantage of the day, or at least getting work done around the house. When I don't, because the kids require my attention (I don't actually ignore them completely), I feel like I've done nothing and wasted a perfectly good day.

On the other hand, if I have a busy work day and run from one thing to the next, so long as I don't lose my balance (literally and figuratively), I feel super. Accomplished.

I've resolved plenty of times to rise above the mundane and keep my focus on other goals that are important to me as well such as furthering my education in lots of different areas, hiking more, planning days off better, tweaking our families' nutritional life -- but change happens so slowly, especially while working, raising children and trying to keep the house clean and organized. I guess the important thing is to keep moving in the right direction, even though sometimes it seems like I won't get back on my personal horse until I'm about fifty. We'll see.