Almonds

Yesterday the Hubs teased me about finding (yet again) the open bag of almonds in the pantry.  Just waiting, he insists, to fall off the shelf and make a horrible mess.



See 'em? Right there, in the middle.


Almonds are my 10am snack, I grab a handful as I am dashing out the door - taking the kids wherever it is we are going that day. I never close the bag. Irritating as it may be, this simple act of omission on my part is unfortunately a symptom of a larger phenomenon. There is so much in my life that is left undone, or done with only half my attention. There is evidence of it everywhere.

I used to clean my house every week. Top to bottom. Stem to stern. From the baseboards to the tub jets, everything was scrubbed and sanitized. Now there is dirt on the floor, crumbs under the table, and sticky milk rings on every flat surface. The baseboards? Please.

I am always in a hurry. Dashing here and there to avert a crisis, soothe a hurt, obtain a binky, refill a cup, check on suspiciously-quiet children. I am always thinking two steps ahead. Wipes are getting low, better grab a refill next time I'm upstairs. What's this sippie cup doing in the toy box, thank God I spotted it lest we have another "nasty milk" situation.  Better reload supplies in the diaper bag. This bum's red, where's the Desitin? Are we out? Heading to Target today, better check the diaper stash - where are the coupons? And isn't it someone's birthday this month?

My mind and my body are often in two completely different places. My hands working independently. There is so much to do. It's endless and relentless, and things slip through the cracks. Actually, they're not so much "cracks" anymore, with things slipping through - but rather gaping chasms where entire days slip through. 




Ugh.

Sure, I know - it's common knowledge that kids are messy and crazy, and they bring chaos into your life.  Everyone tells you to cut yourself some slack - you'll clean when they go to college. But that's not really how the world works, is it? The expectation is that perhaps you'll stop polishing the furniture with homemade, organic beeswax from the hives you tend in the backyard and instead switch to Pledge, right? No, you don't need to iron the sheets, but they still need to be changed every week.

Cut myself some slack. Where exactly? The housework has to get done - or else you end up on that show, Hoarders. You have to cook nutritious meals or else the family ends up on The Biggest Loser.  You have to keep up with the laundry, or else you end up naked.

So what's the point I'm making here? There's just too much. Too much to do. Too much to remember. If I'm going to try to remember to close the bag of almonds - something else is going to get forgotten. It's inevitable. Let's just hope it's not one of the children.