Memories and Priorities

Life gets so chaotic, it often seems like there are a million things that need to be done and never enough time to do them.  Work, school, house to clean, shopping to do, lunches to pack, bills to pay, appointments, blah blah blah.  Calendar is overscheduled and every minute can be spent thinking about what you have to do the next minute.  The here-and-now becomes the never-was.

We're pretty good at stopping to smell the roses and enjoying the moment, but we can still get caught up in the flurry of "gotta-do's" just like everyone else.  This weekend was a pretty fantastic retreat.  We decided to write off everything, all the obligations, except for the things that would make memories for our family.

We went out to eat almost all weekend.  To heck with cooking and dishes and cleaning up bits of rice out of the hardwood floor crevices.  We saw THREE movies in the movie theater.  If you know us at all, you know this is pretty amazing considering we average about one movie every year.   Granny and I took the kids to see "Frozen" which was fantastic, I think it's my new favorite Disney movie.   I didn't stress about the fact that Finn watched the first part of the movie like this:

So many parents get so caught up in "be still and sit up straight!".  There's certainly a time for that and we value good manners.  But it's liberating not to be the parent trying to force their 3-year old son into a chair when it doesn't matter.  The theater was mostly empty and he wasn't bothering anyone, why not lay down and get comfy with a bag of popcorn?  

Marty and I went to see "The Hunger Games - Catching Fire" Saturday afternoon, which we really liked and had been waiting to see.  Even better than the first movie and it was a good reflection of the book.  I ate a whole box of Raisinets before the previews even ended.  

Afterwards we meandered around Bass Pro, which was basically empty due to the heavy snow coming down.  We bought a 10x10 foot tent on the spur of the moment.   Made zombie apocalypse plans.

We went to pick up the kids, they decided they'd rather spend the night at Granny's so we found ourselves with an evening free.  Spontaneously decided to go back to the movie theater and watch "The Hobbit:  Desolation of Smaug".  It was fun and visually interesting, but we weren't as happy with it as "Catching Fire".  Same length of time as the previous movie, but felt a lot longer.  A lot of scenes dragged.  Some characters felt two-dimensional and I wish would have been explored with more depth.  Still glad we saw it in the theater though, it was pretty to look at.  And bonus, the movie theater staff let me take my outside Mocha Peppermint Latte in, which technically is verboten.  It lasted longer than the Raisinets but had the effect of making it really hard to sit still for so long with the caffeination and sugar on board.   I was bouncing around in the chair like a squirrel on speed.

We took the kids to a Christmas party Saturday morning with Marty's parents, had a great breakfast, the kids got to run and play and dance with other kids, and got some fun stuff from Santa too.  

Today we threw snowballs and built a snowman.  Bought our Christmas tree, took it home and decorated it as a family while listening to Christmas music.   Let the kids hang the ornaments wherever they wanted (a big letting-go achievement for my overly organized Type A self).  Lit the season's first fire in the fireplace.   

We didn't waste time or energy on things that didn't matter, didn't stress, stayed in the moment.  We focused on simple meaningful time, not multitasking time where so many things are going on that it makes it difficult for any one individual thing to have true meaning.  

If only we could operate every day throwing all necessity and duty to the wind.  But it can't be all drinking lattes and hanging out at the movie theater.  We do have obligations and responsibilities.  We are expert jugglers and often have way too many pans in the fire.  But there's a distinction.   And it's all about the importance that you give to those things.  I may be doing a project for work while trying to cook dinner for the week ahead and mentally planning out three other things.  But it will never keep me from stopping everything to admire my daughter's artwork that she proudly came to show me.  To get down on a knee to look her in the eye and tell her I'm so proud of her creativity.  Maybe the work project gets bumped to be done another day.  Maybe the casserole gets burned.  But it's all about priorities.  Priorities and the right perspective.  Those things make the best memories.