Full, not Busy

It drives me crazy when people ask how we’re doing and I respond with: “Busy.” Sure: busy is as busy does, and I have five kids, so yeah…whatever… It is what it is. But the truth is, that we’re not “busy”. My kids aren’t enrolled in sports. I’m not lugging them from one afternoon activity to another. I try to never let them make friends so I don’t have to do playdates (that one is a joke).

We homeschool so…we’re home. Obviously. And the time does go quickly. There is rarely a day when I look around my home, take a deeply contented breath and acknowledge that there is nothing to do. There is always something—laundry to fold, dishes to wash, toys to pick up, books to read, music to play, errands to run, phone calls to make, attitudes to correct (often my own). The list could go on indefinitely. And I can get to the end of the day and feel like I’ve gotten through with barely a breath.

But when I slow down long enough to think about it, I realize—all the things I’m doing during a day are good things, things I enjoy, things I have welcomed into my day for a reason. So is this really busyness—frenetic activity for activity’s sake—or is it fullness, a rich life of purpose and joy?

So, here’s some of what we’ve been up to:

We had a trip to Tennessee scheduled for our early spring school break. We cancelled it because of ice. As a consolation prize, four out of five kids got colds (NOT COVID), so we stayed home and the kids coughed all over each other and I caught up on all the things that I hadn’t been getting to during regular school weeks.

{If you noticed that I said “early spring” school break instead of “spring break”, it’s because I’m scheduling two spring breaks this year: and nobody can make me feel bad about it.}

Now, we are hard at work back to school. The kids got their snow days (and their ice days and their rain days), so much so that Bruiser is ready to move to CA now and not in June. Considering that this is the first real winter he’s had, nobody is surprised by that.

I am plowing through writing every spare minute of time that I have, and the kids are indulging me by getting through school faster than I have ever seen them. I’m not sure when that will end, but for now, I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth. Done with school and with an afternoon free for them to play and me to do my own work? This is a total win in my book.

We are still trying to find a buyer for the RV, but making plans for what a cross-country move will look like if that doesn’t happen. Spoiler alert: it does not involve me towing the RV. It does involve me in Burban the Great with five kids and three pets while the Incredible Man tows the RV. It also involves not having to find pet-friendly hotels, so…you win some, you lose some.

And lately, I’ve been reading good books and running our insane hills and playing a little more piano, the last one being an unexpected blessing. I told myself at the beginning of the year that I wanted to start playing just one hymn a week (setting that bar real high). I’m not a great pianist, but I do enjoy it, and it’s soothing…especially after a long day of talking at my children. But you know what’s not soothing? The hymnal closing continuously while I try to play. Or the hymnal sending my phone flying across the room when I try to prop said hymnal open with said phone. Or the hymnal sending crashing onto the keys whatever books I lean against it in a failed attempt to keep it open. In other words: if you are a hymnal-using pianist, teach me your ways.

Other than that, I am trying to just enjoy each day to the full (there’s that word again), enjoying the kids and our community here (and away), teaching, writing, reading, doing the things that make me feel alive. And if I fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow, at least I’m not lying there thinking about all the things I wish I had tried but hadn’t. It’s not busy, but it is full. And that’s worth celebrating.