Minute to Win It

I can’t remember where I was going exactly–maybe out to California to visit my brother?–but it was my first time away on a vacation by myself since becoming a mom.  I believe PSP was about 2 1/2 years old.  Traveling before kids always seemed so full of frustration and inconvenience.  Are you kidding me… the flight’s delayed again?…  Why did I bring my big purse, it’s so heavy…  Please don’t let the lady with the crying kid sit next to me… Oh yes I did think that last one.  Often…shameful I know, but I was a different person then.

But anyway this first flight traveling by myself post-kids proved to be a paradigm shift in my world. Suddenly delays were a luxurious gift of extra time, no bag of luggage could be so unmanageable as a squirmy 2 year old and sit next to a mom or dad with young kiddos?  I’d love to!  They could probably use an extra hand from someone in the know and if the kid cries, oh well…at least it’s not my kid.  So that was the actual shift in perspective, but I distinctly remember another personal phenomenon as well.  As soon as I sat down on the plane it’s like I morphed into a rabid raccoon in a garbage dump at midnight–suddenly attacking everything I enjoyed all at one time.  I remember stuffing chocolate in my mouth, listening to music, getting out a book, flipping through a magazine and if I had wifi (can’t remember if I did) I’m sure I was checking that too.  All at once.

I think one of the biggest adjustments for me in regards to becoming a mom has been learning to accomplish tasks–or not accomplish tasks–in small spurts of time.  What I didn’t realize before becoming a mom is that time it’s just for being leisurely in the morning or enjoying quiet moments alone.  Time brings with it the ability to start a task and complete it in one fell swoop–or at least stop doing it when you want to stop doing it.

Years and years later, I still find this aspect of my life to be a common occurrence.  So here I am on a Tuesday morning (the day B goes into work late) doing this rabid raccoon routine of trying to fit everything in at once.  Clean out the car, a quick grocery run, a stroll around the mall, and a pastry at Nordy’s while writing a quick post.  I’m getting better at managing getting things done in short spurts around the house–or at least managing my expectations–but give me a couple hours to myself and I go full throttle on do-what-I-want-to-do-without-the-kids mode.

Time to go get some studio time while the girls are down for naps.  Ever since my art post last week and bragging about painting every day, I haven’t painted since–ha!  So it goes… Also, thanks for the votes about my art.  I’m excited to get some prints made and will let you know asap.