Fitting It All In

Our schedules are pretty full these days, and I think on the one hand it’s a good thing, but on another, it’s a little crazy. We try to make sure we have at least one day in the week when we stay put at home so we can all be domestic and maybe I can even get some work done around the house/yard... yeah, right.

At times this means that the kids have no planned activities and may get a little bored, but I don’t think this is a bad thing, because being over scheduled leads to a neurotic adulthood, and down time spent in your own head leads to thoughtfulness and the ability entertain oneself.

Either way, that doesn’t mean that we don’t have our days of craziness. When I look back on them I’m amazed that we get through them. Book club days are like that. The kids really enjoy it, and I’m grateful that N gets to take part because it’s a great group of kids, but the timing forces me to get not only an early lunch together, but I have to have that evening’s supper ready, as well, because as soon as we’re out the door, there’s no coming back until the evening.

One downside to all this madness is that the kids don’t get to play together afterward. In the past they would hang out and play for hours, sometimes going until dinner time. We would often have the whole gang come over to our house and they would get crazy, though for the record, they never destroyed the house like some kids I’ve met do. A testament to the fact that they’re just good kids.

Our schedules no longer allow for this, however. Right after book club we have video camp, and then after that, hockey for both kids. That means two huge hockey bags for them, and my equipment as well because I’m helping to coach. I used to go with N to the skate park, but with all that gear, I can’t fit his bike in the trunk anymore. I toyed with the idea of putting the bike rack on, but at some point you just have to make due without. I did manage to put the pod on the roof rack for more storage space, and thanks go out to my Mentor for that.

All in all, it’s a long day, but we sure do love hockey, and it works out fairly well because R has her Zumba class that evening, so she gets home around the same time as us. We can all sit down to a nice supper and tell each other about how crazy our lives are. Then again, it’s like Charles Bukowski said, “Some people never go crazy. What horrible lives they must lead.”

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Lyra Jaye for the pic.