"Schoooool's out for summa.......schooooool's out foreva....."
Well, not really forever, but today is the first day of summer vacation for our local district and my now soon to be 4th grader. Dad took a couple days off to chill at home with the dude, while mom continues the 8-5 grind (insert sigh <here>), until big sis starts watching him next week (ahhhh, childcare in America, that's a whole other post. Hell, that's a whole other blog). But as usual, I digress...
I learn so much from my son: what causes gray hair and wrinkles, what increases my heart rate to rapidly increase and darkens my complexion to a blood red color the fastest, what takes chocolate chip granola bar out of carpet...and car backseats...and hair...and cat fur, what tasty libation can take the edge off of a scenario just enough to make it tolerable. But seriously, I do learn a lot from him. I may not realize it in the moment, but he makes me think about things differently. He presents me with so many opportunities to view things in life through a different lens. For the 2.4 of you that have been reading my sporadic posts for the past few months, you may recall that I finally got off my ass and started this blog because of an early Valentine's Day card my son made me. More recently, he has reminded me that I need to get outside more (mom, will you pitch to me?), that I need more physical activity (mom, will you pitch to me?), that I need to stretch more before I do anything physical (mom, can you pitch to me?).
Today, Doug posted a picture of a self portrait Lennon made this morning on this, his first day of break.
This made me smile. Before I left this morning I told him I didn't want him in front of the Xbox and/or tablet all day. That he had to also play outside and read and write, etc. I fully expected to come home to a bleary eyed zombie child 3 shades paler than he was when he woke up. And this was what he chose to do. It was not at all what I had expected. Not, in a million years, how I thought he would spend his first morning of "freedom".
Why was I so sure of how he would spend the time? This made me think of what is expected. What do I expect of myself? I am a very routine oriented person. It is good from a productivity point, but from a fun, creative and adventurous point, not so much. This makes me want to challenge myself to stop confining me to my world of the little box with the rabbit wheel of life constantly spinning and going nowhere. Vary it. Shake it up. Surprise myself.
Life can get very robotic, day in and day out. Always saying "no", or "maybe later", or "it's too expensive", or "that's just silly". Sure, there is a time and place for those answers. But there are also times for "yes's" and "now's" and "treat yourself's" and "just being silly". Find those moments and give those answers from time to time.
Now go get your crayons and draw a self portrait with things you love just shooting out of you with excitement and anticipation like baseball and pika pika (this would be a Pokemon reference, for those who think I may be drinking right now) and hearts and mountains. Go find your Pika Pika. And say yes to it.
Now go have a rock star day.
