Slave to a Calendar

I don't know about the rest of you, but my family's calendar is packed.  No, packed isn't even the right word.  It is overflowing some days.  For those of you with calendars or white boards hanging from your refrigerators listing your daily activities or for those of you who have your daily appointments tucked neatly away in your Blackberry, you know what I'm talking about.  Just to give you a better picture of this, last Saturday my youngest daughter had a gymnastics meet in one town, my oldest son had a basketball tournament in another town and my oldest daughter had a day of volleyball games in yet a third town.  To complicate matters, all three of these towns were at least 45 miles from our town and we were down to one vehicle at the time.  How could this possibly work?

Well, with the help of grandparents and some vehicle ping pong, we got each child to where they were supposed to be.  At the end of the day, though, I was exhausted.  And, yet, I was pulled to my family calendar, under its magical spell, to sort out the next week's activities and plan on how I'm going to be in three places at once again.  Don't get me wrong.  Having everything written down and planned out actually calms me down.  I need to have my life sorted out into nice little blocks of time, and honestly, it's the only way my family would get anywhere.  But at the same time, I have been wondering a lot lately, why are we so driven to be everything to everyone?  Would it really kill me or my children if we didn't sign up for every activity on the planet?  Could we still be validated as human beings if we simply did nothing? 

I don't really do resolutions for the new year, but I do like to reflect on areas of my life that could really use some work.  This whole calendar business is one of them.  Really, it's not about our calendar.  It's about being so busy that we don't have time to just be.  I recently posted on Facebook that I'd like to spend less time doing and more time simply being.  In a world where people are now defined more by accomplishments and achievements, it's hard to simply be.  That doesn't sit well with me. 

One of my best friends gave me a book after the birth of my youngest son.  What is so amazing and divine, in my eyes, is that she just tossed in a couple books that she thought I could read in some of my down time.  It was part of a baby gift meant for the mommy.  What I don't think she realized is how much I truly needed what is in this book.  "breathe" by Keri Wyatt Kent invites readers to re-evaluate their priorities, priorities that often get lost in a culture that focuses on material things, getting to the top of the career ladder and calendars, like mine, filled to the edges.  Really, it's a challenge to slow down and create meaningful space in which we and our families can live more balanced lives. 

I can tell you that my calendar will likely be filled for months to come.  It's just the product of four, very busy children and two working parents.  But I can also tell you that I am going to work on being more intentional about the moments in that calendar.