Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Opening the Window

 Today was full of self-imposed break neck speed.  I started the morning determined to finish sewing the tin man pants (4 sets of which I had two left).  This is my current sewing project for  Charlie's first grade musical.  So at 5:45 I began, and in between pinning, ironing and stitching I got the kids up and ready for school.  In fact, this began last night when I did the first two pairs of pants in between scrabble moves with Sidney.   I guess I was feeling a bit guilty, because I didn't do much sewing over the weekend and didn't want to get lost in the week without doing it.  So at lunch today I began working on the first shirt.  I seem to be having a problem picturing in my head how to do the arms with the silver lame, because I ended up pulling stitches on the entire arm not once, but twice!  Amazingly, as I when posted here, I was very calm and though frustrated, not angry about it, just puzzled.

Keep in mind that this is some imaginary deadline I've decided to impulsively put myself on and has now developed into a dull aching tightness in my neck.  

So this evening once home from the school pick up, I think I've got it figured out in my head and sit down to those tin man arms again.  I'm pinning and pinning and missing something.  At this point the kids are incessantly telling me how they are***starving*** (enter whiney scream where the asterisks are),  so I figure, I need to stop being uber sewing mom and actually feed my kids.  That's when it happened....  I cracked open the kitchen window as I began to work on dinner and in wafted my favorite aroma.

Yes, the lilac bush outside the window is starting to bloom and in that split second rush of air, all of my self-imposed craziness drifted away and I just was.  It is a wonderful thing, that something so simple, yet so core can in a moment ground you back in reality so that you stop, take a deep breath, and savor.  The next time I decide to put myself under a crazy deadline, I just need to remember to open a window.

2 comments:

  1. wow....i remember those crazy days when the kids were younger and even though i'd give away my 18 year old right now...well, most of the time, i'm glad those days are behind me....kudos to your strength and energy !

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  2. My two favorite smells of the year: the first honeysuckle of the spring and the first wood smoke of the winter. They have a way of stopping time and making momentary worries seem irrelevant. I always wish that sensation would last a few moments longer, but it's lovely while it's there. Thanks for the reminder.

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