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The Little Things
Apr. 28th, 2011 08:31 pmAnyone that knows us is well aware of just how fast paced our life used to be. Most summers, we ran out of available weekends long before summer ended (and in some cases, before it even arrived). Our calendars were full to bursting with meetings, potlucks, social events, more meetings, concerts, family get-togethers, conventions and yet more meetings. We’ve been this busy for literally years. Sometimes it was a pain in the ass, but overall, it is the life we chose to lead. We still do a lot of stuff, but it’s not like it was, in the before time, in the long, long ago.
I knew living that way came with a price. Spontaneity was largely a thing of the past. If we didn’t schedule something, or block out time for a particular activity, it didn’t happen. This applied for everything like the things listed above to hiking, bicycling, and even yard work and household chores. We never felt like we had enough time to do all of the things we wanted to do, let alone were obligated to do.
We occasionally had to schedule time to do nothing. How sad is that?
All that changed twenty-seven days ago. Babies change your priorities in a hurry. Even if we wanted to go out as often as we used to, we can’t. Connor cannot be out that long. Aimee cannot either. It’s too much for both of them. So now that we are slowing down, something else that was missing is starting to creep back into life. Simple pleasures have made a comeback. These are the sorts of things that you don’t fully realize are missing until you suddenly do.
Mindless things like watching television together, or movies, or listening to music, because we’re not going to or coming home from some meeting every night.
Pleasant things like sitting together at the dinner table, partaking of a meal that didn’t come out of a take-out box or the freezer.
Silly things like having spirited debates over whose turn it is to take out the garbage, change the baby or walk the dog.
Simple things like walking into the pantry, hunting for a snack, and knowing that something yummy is lurking within because we actually had time to go grocery shopping.
And best of all, just laying on the sofa, watching the rain fall on a warm spring day, snuggling with the dog because you can. Got nowhere to go, nothing on the schedule, just sitting. It's a singular pleasure, like little else.
Until you do it with a newborn snoring away on your chest.
That’s a wholly different, wonderful thing.
I knew living that way came with a price. Spontaneity was largely a thing of the past. If we didn’t schedule something, or block out time for a particular activity, it didn’t happen. This applied for everything like the things listed above to hiking, bicycling, and even yard work and household chores. We never felt like we had enough time to do all of the things we wanted to do, let alone were obligated to do.
We occasionally had to schedule time to do nothing. How sad is that?
All that changed twenty-seven days ago. Babies change your priorities in a hurry. Even if we wanted to go out as often as we used to, we can’t. Connor cannot be out that long. Aimee cannot either. It’s too much for both of them. So now that we are slowing down, something else that was missing is starting to creep back into life. Simple pleasures have made a comeback. These are the sorts of things that you don’t fully realize are missing until you suddenly do.
Mindless things like watching television together, or movies, or listening to music, because we’re not going to or coming home from some meeting every night.
Pleasant things like sitting together at the dinner table, partaking of a meal that didn’t come out of a take-out box or the freezer.
Silly things like having spirited debates over whose turn it is to take out the garbage, change the baby or walk the dog.
Simple things like walking into the pantry, hunting for a snack, and knowing that something yummy is lurking within because we actually had time to go grocery shopping.
And best of all, just laying on the sofa, watching the rain fall on a warm spring day, snuggling with the dog because you can. Got nowhere to go, nothing on the schedule, just sitting. It's a singular pleasure, like little else.
Until you do it with a newborn snoring away on your chest.
That’s a wholly different, wonderful thing.
