Balance!

We made it through the first week of school.  Earlier bedtimes, earlier rising,  breakfast, packed lunches, school papers, home work and baseball practice.  I think I should have automatically lost 10 pounds, but instead I think I gained weight.  I am realizing I am more of an emotional eater, which isn't good for the waist line.

In the midst of the new "norm" of this time of year, and the calendar still filling up, I want balance.  This comes in different forms for different people.   A well organized home, charts on the walls and scheduled routines, for some energizes them, for others, it is a rope around their neck.  We have both styles in our home.  As the home manager, I seem to have to fall between the two or we all go nuts.

Throw in some spontaneous fun, a trip to the lake and I am go to go.  So my balance this first week meant baking "Back to school cookies" for Ben and the grands.  Joshua is being home schooled this year.  Saturday morning I went, "by my self" to the lake to be still and balance my soul and spirit.

 Balance comes back into focus.  I usually find documenting all of these events through my phone camera is a must.  I share on Instagram/FB, it reminds me that nothing is as bad as it seems, when I flip through the treasured photos I snapped. Yes, my phone is used more as camera than it ever is as a phone.

I also had to "grab these moments" in this first week of school.   Three grandsons came for the evening and had dinner with us.  The oldest "Joshua" loves to have candle light and for me to dress the table.  Dress the table we did, with Veggie Tale place mats, napkins and candles.  My heart settled down into the treasure of a day that was booked from beginning to end.

First day of school finished with Dr Seuss movies and brotherly love.

My other balance to missing Benjamin, working on a new job, while trying to learn a CAD program at age 55, came when I was called to help my daughter.

It was truly a throw back to the Andy Griffith Show.  My daughter now lives in a small, rural community. One with only a couple of traffic lights.  Cow pastures surround this little city where you hear the train pass through the downtown blowing its horn.

As I came to help I turned the corner to her street.  To my wonder, coming toward me, was my three grandsons in their battery operated police car!  As they realized it was me, they started to bail out of the car.  This was a block or more from their home.  We piled them into my car when my daughter realized the battery on kid's car was dead...it now needed rescued.  After returning everyone home, the boys and I enjoyed the simple things in life.  TRUCKS. CONSTRUCTION TRUCKS.  As if a movie was playing before their eyes, we spent the morning watching dirt trucks do their job.  One driver hooked his horn for the boys,

Balance...........that place where responsibility doesn't suck all the life out of you.

That place that reminds you what is important and what will be remembered.

That place where you feel  yourself breath and enjoy!