If we are really busy, I'm generally happy. You know, busy people are happy people, and all that jazz. But we inevitably overshoot that invisible mark that lands us in the "too busy" square, and we all end up tired and crabby and craving some down time.
So then, some down time happens. We laze around the house, staying in our jammies. We let the kids watch lots of tv and play lots of Wii, while we tool around on the internet and/or read. It feels glorious at first, but by late afternoon? I start to feel all yicky and grumpy. We need to DO something, SEE someone, have something accomplished for this day.
So we swing, back and forth. Too busy, too bored. We hit the sweet spot once in awhile- the place where we're happily balancing the two. But it seems like that spot doesn't have a magical set of coordinates that we can navigate to; we're always struggling to find it, and it always pops up someplace new.
All of that is to say, our weekend was pretty slothful. We did so little on Saturday that I can't even recall our day. By 4 o'clock I was feeling outright GLUM. We rallied though, packed up a picnic of sandwiches and orange soda and fresh cherries and strawberries and headed to a nearby beach.
Spending the evening swimming and laying in the sand? Reading a book and taking photos of my babies? It's my new favorite.
[Edited to add, for clarification: the evening at the beach was our least slothful part of the weekend, and I felt rejuvenated and happy. I don't regret one minute of swimming or beach bumming... it's all the OTHER minutes of the weekend that were too under-productive. I don't think I articulated that well originally. Sorry!]
Sunday was much the same as Saturday. We did manage to dash off to church at the last minute, making our morning seem less wasted. But largely, we were aimless and lazy, mixed with a restlessness that none of us could identify.
We thought about hitting the beach again, but it was already too late in the day to make it worth it.
In the end, we spent the evening cleaning the basement. Joan shop-vacing the cobwebs, Marin using baby wipes to clean the top of the washer and dryer, Kate humming while she used soapy water to wash the stairs. David and I, and our three kids, finding peace in a dirty, yucky chore. Who would have imagined?
My weekend slothdom can be measured by the fact that I finished the last half of Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest (oh, man, LOVED. And I saved the last 30-50 pages to finish the next day, so I could savor it. I miss Lisbeth and Micke!) AND read The Hunger Games in it's entirety (disturbing premise but couldn't put it down).
We have a busy month coming up, with lots of weekend obligations, some time out of town, and 2 doula clients due, so our laziness these last couple of days was probably wise.
However, I can't help thinking we wasted precious time that we should have been doing yard work, house projects, garage cleaning, etc. Gah.
5 comments:
I understand about the times when you haven't done anything and suddenly everyone feels kind of grumpy and at loose ends, so that's not great, but I'm pretty sure I'll never look back at time I spent relaxing and wish I had worked more! :-)
Kelsey, yes, see, that is exactly what I mean. The evening at the beach? PERFECT relaxation. I don't begrudge a second of it. The WHOLE REST OF THE WEEKEND being aimless and lazy? Sorta nice... to a point, until we all HORRIBLY BORED and crabby. But when/where did we cross that line??
It might have felt slothful but it looks amazing! Apparently your photography skills are just that good.
Eh- I know in the end it'll still be waiting for me...the work, that is....but like you- sometimes I find relaxation and contentment in doing a job. I HATE doing laundry- but there's a certain something in folding them one at a time. Clearing our closets are the same thing....I always find something in there that takes me down Memory Lane and I find such sweet contentment in that.
Love the pictures!
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