Juggling

A day is one big juggling act.  Trying to fit 32 hours of stuff into a 24 hour period of time.  No matter how you look at it, it just isn't happening.  Sort, shuffle & sacrifice is about the only way to make it all happen in any given day.  The old saying "don't put off til tomorrow what could be done today" certainly DOES NOT apply to a mom of 3 active pre-school/toddlers.

So I have become a fairly skilled juggler.  Keeping track of kids, cooking, cleaning, errands, financials (personal and business), social events/obligations, miscellaneous activities and a little personal time sure makes for a lot of balls in the air.  I guess to do it all (well???) there has to be a system.  But in order for the system to work, there are well defined categories.  The "mom" balls, the "wife" balls,  the "family" balls (a separate category than mother & wife), the "household" balls, the "fiduciary" balls (work), the "essential" balls and the "personal" balls.  I guess I laid it all out right there.....pretty much in order of how I set my priorities.  My kids first, foremost and forever.  I guess know Bill understands that the girls come before everything, even him and US.  So the biggest ball in the air for me are the girls and the essentials involved in raising healthy, happy, caring and socially responsible people.  Our marriage and family unit are no less important, but are a lot more self-sufficient and will take a little less maintenance simply because as adult we understand what comes first.  So that ball is a little smaller.  Household responsibilities and finance/fiduciary are pretty much tied.  It's hard to do the 1st without the second.  Gotta work to have money to buy food, pay the utilities to wash clothes, clean the house (you get it).  A little smaller ball yet again.  You'd  think essentials would be the largest ball, but ever since becoming a parent you surprise yourself with the amount of things you can do without.....and sleep is one of them.  So that's a little smaller, a little lighter ball.  The the tiniest ball of all is the one labeled "personal". 

And it seems like once you finally get into a rhythm and keeping track of all the balls you have in the air, a gust of wind comes along and scatters them everywhere.  And when you think of what's the easiest to scatter....the smallest, lightest balls go first.  The things to go first in our schedules are the personal things that we may enjoy, but CAN be put off.  I love scrapbooking, but I am currently 11 months behind on the memories I want to preserve.  I have scheduled time that I meet with some friends every other month only because they understand as well that while friendship and fun are vital for keeping us sane, we are all busy women that have more important responsibilities.  I want to work out to be the healthiest I can be for myself and my family, but that means I give up an hour of sleep 5 days/a week so I can workout at 5 am.  Laundry, dishes and bills often pile up until the end of the day and after the girls are in bed I stay up late to finish.   Bill and I have "date time" MAYBE once every 3-4 months.  Hey, I love writing this blog, but it's been over a week simply because of all the other balls I've had in the air.

But at the end of the 24-hour day I have, I am proud to say that the biggest ball in the air is still going.  The winds may have tried to blow it around, but I am resilient in my priorities.  I know that my kids know they are loved.  I know somewhere down the road it won't be ALL about them.  But for right now they are more important than everything else I have up in the air.  They don't care if there are still breakfast dishes in the sink at noon or if I am still carrying around 5 extra pounds of  baby weight after 2 years.  They have no idea that I fold clothes til 11 pm or frantically clean bathrooms, take out trash and mop floors during their naps.  They are the reason I get out of bed in the morning and take all of those balls and start juggling.  But I always toss up the largest first.  That's the one that is the most important to get started in the right direction.  The rest will fall into line as they are supposed to.  Up in the air, round and round they go.  The best part is, the largest ball is the easiest to see.  It's the ever present reminder of what is most important.  Bar none!