I Forget So Quickly

I think the re-occurring theme the first day back of school is that the summer went by too fast.  Entering this school season, I wasn't the only mom who lamented that dropping off the kids was a travesty.  The summer of 2013 was blip in the screen especially considering how much I was looking forward to it.

Maybe it was because the summer was cooler and our warm days were just fleeting moments.  Perhaps it was the string of busy that didn't offer a break.  Or possibly I just forgot to relish in the moments.

Living in the present is a beautiful concept.  As a yoga teacher I strive for that ideal.  Yet, most of the time I give that attention to the moment one big deep breath and then a pause.....and then I'm on to the next thing.  I justify this behavior by reminding myself how busy I am.  Just like the greedy magician from Frosty the Snowman I am "busy, busy, busy." There is always a list of things to do. I didn't even hardly blog this summer (insert apology here).  Too much to do, too little time.

I can only tell myself to try.  Unfortunately I am an adult who has been trained that measurable productivity is equal to self worth.  I am a child of parents who embraced busy and the never ending job list handed down from their parents who themselves were products of the Great Depression.  Work and save, save and work.  Stay busy because some day you will be too old to work (and that's not a good thing.) Just the idea of sitting still sometimes makes my heart race.

Gratefully my best teachers are my children.  They are accidental teachers meaning they don't even realize how often I am their student.  And, shhhhh....please don't tell them, the teenagers already are quite sure they are so much smarter than I am.  They haven't been tarnished completely by my quest for 100% productivity.

In this instance they are years ahead of me in their understanding of life.  Case in point are the following pictures I found on their computer screens. Evidence of a summer created, celebrated, and languished in.  While I became hot around the collar every time they ate cereal for lunch or were late for my expectations, their busy was creating a magnitude of memories in their minds and on their iphones.

Thank you children of mine for this summer lesson.  While I can't retrieve these moments myself, I can at least remind myself to try.