I always thought learning how to say “no” would be one of those difficult life lessons that takes a lot of time and effort and failure before you finally master it. It turns out when you get busy enough, it’s really easy.
I’ve been saying no a lot lately. I’ve said no to about six or seven different jobs in the past couple weeks. I said no to being on vestry at my church (fancy Episcopal word for deacon or elder board). I said no to helping our youth group clean the new addition to our church. This morning I said no to going to the men’s breakfast group (OK, so I forgot, but I think that’s my body’s way of saying no). I’ve said no to friends lately. And I’ve said a big, huge no to the pile of dishes in the kitchen and the pile of laundry in the bedroom.
I’m not sure how that last one helps, but it seems to fit.
October is more than halfway over. Bah. Where does the time go?
The last few months have been a blur, a very busy blur. I haven’t blogged as much as I like to, I’m drowning in e-mail, and I’m drowning in projects. I feel like there’s a bit of a light coming, but it’s a long ways off. On the e-mail front, I did manage to clean one box out last week, but another is still out of control. On the blog front I’ve got so many entries stacking up it would take days to finish them all. On the project front I finished a big one last week, which is a relief, though a much bigger one kicked into high gear today. As stressful as that should be, it feels like more of a relief. At least that’s how I feel now. I think it feels like a relief because kicking into high gear means it will eventually have an ending, and that means I can say this too shall pass.
I’m still not used to the idea of having a baby. Even though we’ve started telling every random stranger we can, it still seems barely real. Even though our parents bought some early, gender-neutral baby clothes, it still doesn’t seem real.
I keep trying to imagine our house with a kid in it, and it just doesn’t happen. Usually I just start thinking about how small our house is and how toys everywhere won’t help. I think about what kind of furniture we’ll need and whether or not we can afford any of this.
Today is the longest day of the year. Well, the most daylight of the year. It’s still got 24 hours, just like every other day. Hope you spent those daylight hours well.
I actually felt semi-productive today while I answered e-mails left and right, posted on blogs, finished up projects, scheduled interviews, wielded the telephone, got paid to watch a chick flick, and bought a ticket to L.A. Whew. Of course I still feel like I hardly made a dent, but what can you do?
Yesterday I went for a bike ride and noticed just how high the Mississippi River has become. Thanks to all the rain we’ve had, the water is creeping up the shore, covering paths and docks and leaving trees and shrubs submerged.
I can relate. I’ve been pretty busy myself. Not eye-twitching busy, but I’ve still had a lot going on. And it’s not just work. I’ve found that working at home the work comes and goes and it can be fairly stressful, but just because you meet a deadline doesn’t mean things let up. They just keep rising.
And if it’s not deadlines rising, it’s something else. Like bills or laundry or dishes or grass or dog poop.
Once upon a time I used to pen introspective thoughts late at night while my roommates were sleeping. Some people seem to miss those ponderings, and sometimes I do, too.
I think often those writings were born out of not knowing what to write, and just forcing myself to plunk something out. Lately (meaning the past several years) I’ve found other things to talk about on this blog and didn’t have the need to force it. Maybe something was lost in that.
If you don’t read my other incredibly insightful blog, Real Magazine, shame on you. No, just kidding. It’s written for teens, so I don’t expect everyone to be into it (though I do post more pop culturey stuff over there).
Anyway, I wanted to point your attention to a ‘When I Was Your Age’ entry I wrote over there, Sixteen and Behind the Wheel. I’ve talked about this column before, it’s something I write for my youth group’s newsletter and it seems like a good fit for Real.
This post is all about the joys of driving for teens and includes some of my stupider moves in life. If you like the series, you can also check out my Christian T-shirt entry. I hope to keep adding them on a semi-regular basis.
It’s time for some porch blogging. I’d go for deck blogging, like Jordon Cooper, but it keeps spitting rain. Yesterday and today have been absolutely beautiful weather wise, and I’ve decided today was a worthwile Sabbath day.
Lately I’ve been reading the works of Donald Miller. Well, two of them: Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What. I liked Blue Like Jazz a whole lot more, and I realized it’s because Miller told a lot more personal stories in that book.