Thursday, October 13, 2011

Simplicity ... measured in TIME

there are, without a doubt, many things to contemplate and consider as we settle in to our new lives in Casino.  i could ponder many of them.  but here is one.

TIME.

what do you do with your time?

when we lived in Sydney, albiet a glorified suburb, hubby was catching the 6:25 out of springwood .... to be at work by 8:00 in Paramatta if he was lucky.  if he wasn't lucky, he had to do the 2 hour EACH WAY commute to the North Shore.  and toward the end of our lives in sydney he was lucky to be home for dinner. so the kids would miss him at the start of the day and be lucky to have a bed time book and a kiss and a cuddle at the end of the day.

the kids were on a bus to school by 7:30 each morning.  and when they came home from school, well!  there was piano lessons, swimming lessons and gymnastics.  lord knows how we would handle our eldest son going into year one wanting to play soccer!

as for me .... i was doing laundry, dishes, trying to work on a sustainable lifestyle for the family, grocery shopping.  and then running the kids around .... all a bit manic.

saturday was supposed to be a family day .... but it ended up being a day filled with chores and catch up.  sunday was supposed to be a day of worship and rest.  but after church the insanity of getting ready for the week ahead would set it.  and whew!  i'd fall into bed on sunday night going "what just happened to my week?"

that is what time was like for us.  for me.  the tyranny of the urgent ... never really getting on top of things and never accomplishing anything unless i left it until after everyone was in bed and i could eek out some time to myself.

first day for kids and dad!
that just didn't seem to be what life was supposed to be about!

so how has that changed?  or has it?

hubby used to catch the 6:25 ... now he gets up at 6:25!  the family has breakfast together and daddy takes off for work .... which is less than a 30 minute commute away.  the kids?  no more 7:30 bus that is for sure!  right now i'm rolling them up to school at about 8:55.  next week they'll start riding the bus .... gee .... a leisurly  3-4 block walk and then waving them off at 8:45 am <g> .... and the same coming home.

hubby is home early enuf to get a few things done that he wants before we sit down for dinner.  so yeah ..... i would say we already have and will continue to get a big family time credit in our lives.  the tyranny of the urgent is definately gone .....

tomorrow i'm going to the farmers market first thing ... and then thinking of doing some planting (desperate to get some tomato's in the ground) .... we'll see how it goes.  i'll keep you posted!

2 comments:

  1. That is just wonderful. Time is our greatest gift ! We have been through times like this too and now have arrived at a time where our time is becoming our own . I guess the thing is to keep it like that ...it is so easy to join a thing here or there and next thing you know you are doing it all again.
    So happy for you, it sounds like you made the right change.I bet the kids think it is wonderful.

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