Stop for One Tuesday: Hot Chocolate and Windex

 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12 

     For me there always seem to be fewer hours in the day than items on my to do list.  Some days, I crawl in to bed and I wonder where the day went.  I decided that I wanted to understand where my 960 daily minutes were going.  I reasoned if I had 960 dollars to spend each day, I would know how I spent them.  With that in mind, last week I kept a log of what I do with my time.  Every half hour I made a note of what I had been doing during the previous thirty minutes.  It was really interesting to me to see how I thought I spent my time versus how I actually spent my time.  I was spending more time than I thought on a few things and less time than I thought on others.

     My before school routine packs a lot in each morning.  I am the first person up, usually between 5:00 and 5:15, depending on how often I hit the snooze alarm.  I shower, dress, then wake Anthony.  Patty gets up on her own and joins us.  I am not quite capable of coherent thought or speech before coffee.  The three of us are a pretty quiet bunch as we eat.  I make lunches, take care of unloading the dishwasher and send Anthony out the door at 6:30. 

   

     Connor-the-Irrepressible has strict instructions to stay upstairs until his brother leaves.  The front door barely shuts when he rushes down the stairs like a whirlwind.  Connor talks, listens to a story on his ipod, eats, plays with the dog, and causes all manner of chaos in minutes.  I get him started on breakfast then run upstairs to complete my hair and makeup.  Patty leaves for her bus.  When I come back down I cycle the laundry.  Connor cheerfully follows me around talking nonstop.  Finally, just before I leave I make him a cup of hot chocolate and clean his glasses.  A hug and a kiss for Pat and Connor and I fly out the door by 7:10 to drive to my job at a local elementary school.

     Prior to the time charting, I was completely unaware of how much making a simple cup of hot chocolate and cleaning his eyeglasses meant to Connor.  In fact, the first few days I didn’t even note the two on my paper.  It was Connor who wanted to make sure that they were included in the list of things I do every morning.  And yes, my son is wearing an "explorer's hat" and drinking cocoa with a straw.

     Connor reminded me to I stop for those few minutes each morning to focus on him.  I can get so caught up in getting things done that I miss the important moments with the ones I love.  Each morning I have been given an opportunity to set the tone for my son’s day.  To leave him with the taste of something sweet in his mouth, looking forward to the day set before him, and with a clear vision to accomplish it.   

     Do you have a time in your daily routine where you stop for someone you love?

-Donna

Linking up with: Positively Alene