It’s raining today. I love when it’s raining on a Saturday and we have no plans. It doesn’t happen very often and when I checked the weather last night I started fantasizing about my day. I get strangely excited about the possibilities of being stuck in my house all day. Mornings are by far my favorite part of the day on the weekends.
When the kids were smaller I had to get myself settled into the idea of how I’d have to entertain them on a rainy day. How much coloring, crafting, dance party having, and putting together an endless number of puzzles could I handle in one day? What movie would we watch to break up their need for focused adult attention? I always considered how long the movie was because this determined how much time I’d have to check Facebook or put together the photo books I love or call my Mom or make lunch, or maybe even eat lunch.
Greg is a “projects” guy and always keeps himself busy with building something or fixing something. He’s been this way since I’ve known him and in our early years, it meant he would sneak out of bed in the morning and go do whatever project he was focused on. Sometimes it would be small things like yard work which usually required fixing some piece of equipment that was broken. But sometimes he was building a brick wall in our house and I could hear the noise, even though he was trying to be quiet so I could sleep. When the kids were little this typically meant he was outside or on an errand by the time they were starting to wake up. So I was on kid duty, almost always. It worked because I wanted to hang out with the kids, especially on a lazy morning. 
They would crawl in my bed and we would snuggle and laugh and maybe turn on a show so I could drift in and out for just a little bit longer. Now when Greg heads off to the garage to work on his newest thing it means I get a quiet morning to slowly wake up with no one around to make requests. In the early years of our relationship, this always left me feeling lonely. Now I crave this time and I’m grateful when I have the bed all to myself in the morning. No one to judge me, or need me, or even want me. Just me, in my own thoughts, with time to breath.
Now that the kids are older they love to wake up on their own time and just hang out in their rooms. Madison is usually the last to wake up so once I realize I haven’t heard her I head up to her room and give her a nudge. She typically won’t join us for a couple more hours so we see her around 2:00 in afternoon. The boys are usually playing video games or watching TV, maybe with a neighborhood friend that’s not allowed to show up before 10am on the weekends. They are all very capable in the kitchen but it still surprises me when I wake up to the smell of bacon and eggs because Liam felt like having a hearty breakfast. And then there are the times I wake up to the smoke alarm because well, Liam felt like having a hearty breakfast;-)
My routine involves getting up and opening my shades so I can see the trees. Then I make my bed and lay back down with a blanket over me while I check out what’s happening in the world on all my social sites or I write in my journal. I make my bed so that when I hear Greg come back in the house I can quickly jump up and not have him think I’m still just laying in bed. I don’t think he cares but it feels like I narrowly escape judgment. It also means I have accomplished one thing in my day already. Make your bed, change your life. Not sure it’s working but it feels like a good start. Then off to the kitchen to make hot tea and then I typically head to my office to organize life. Sometimes when the house is still quiet I snuggle on the couch and watch Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday. Had a chance to watch this morning and basically cried through the entire interview with Anne Lamott. She was talking about her new book on prayer, Help, Thanks, Wow, and like many of Oprah’s guests it hit me in a soft spot, the spiritual journey. More on this another time.
What a gift it is to have time to myself but I often look around and wonder, where did everyone go? Sometimes I don’t recognize my life. It changes so fast and I feel like I’m out of sorts and can’t keep up. The summer is always a time to slow down and take a breath. And a rainy Saturday morning is like that on steroids for me. Seriously more quiet time than I know what to do with. I know some of you may be in the throes of it with infants, toddlers, or even aging parents that require intense attention. So this all probably sounds heavenly, and to be honest it kind of is, but it’s fleeting and I have to remind myself to just enjoy the moment.
Now off to rally the troops, I think it’s time for some board games. I hope they want to play with me. 
"I got this" 