"The hurrier I go.."

Growing up, my Grammy who lived right around the corner had a cute little wrought iron plaque on her wall that read, "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."  I didn't understand it, when I was young (and not just the strange grammar) - it seemed to me that she could have hurried up just a bit because she was often late to things, whereas my family was pretty much always on time.

Now, though, I find myself quoting that plaque to myself on a daily basis.  Most days it feels like there is too much to do to get it all done in one day; probably because there really is too much to do.  Wash and hang laundry, wash and hang diapers, three hours of actual (company) work, nurse, change, bathe, make dinner, clean house, and then wash, rinse, and repeat all over again the next day.  It reminds me of a list of homemaker tasks that I saw in a book once, which was about a page long and ended with something like "and forebear before you drop dead counting the stars." 

I don't mean to sound like I am complaining, because I really love my life, and I've never been happier with any work that I've ever done.  I love watching my little girl grow, and love the cycles and patterns of daily life.  I do sometimes wonder how anyone else manages to get so much more done than me (how do all these homemaking moms have time to sew, knit, read, go to daily Mass, etc?!  Do they just sleep less than me, because they seem to be finding more hours in the day!) but mostly I am content with my life. What I am realizing though is that I need to stop "hurrying" through the day so much; that I actually stay on top of most everything much better if, paradoxically, I accept from the beginning of the day that not everything will get done.  The day goes by much better if I accept the road blocks and distractions that inevitably occur; perhaps the best description is that I am learning to move through the day like flowing water, rather than trying to bash through it all like a battering ram.  The flowing water approach allows me to drop everything to read my daughter a book, or to enjoy a lunch out with a friend, regardless of whether my work is done for the day and the house is all clean; it will get done in time.  The battering ram approach insists that everything must happen in an orderly and sequential fashion, and no moving on to the next task until the first one is done.  It is a tactic that worked well in my pre-baby days (such discipline brought me great grades in college), and suits my personality, but it just doesn't bring about holiness, contentment, or peace in the home during my present season of life.

So my grandmother must have been on to something.  I am learning to "putter" like her - do my tasks in fits and starts, and trying to learn the fine art of flexibility.  Of course, as a result things like blogging are often on the back burner to all the other absolutely essential items on the to do list!

In other news, I have a newly toddling munchkin who just woke up, so I must drop the writing to run after her :)