Choosing The Lifestyle

Early summertime is always a fallow time for blogging, and it ain't 'cause the livin' is easy. It's because my days and afternoons grow tighter with kid-related activities, and for some reason, those activities seem to crowd out cohesive creative thinking. Yesterday, for instance, my morning was segmented into 1) taking my older son to his annual checkup, where he got a painful battery of shots and 2) spending a great deal of time trying to find the cellphone that my younger son had craftily hidden under the sound-deadening beanbag chair in his room. Only one of these involved intermittent screaming, and it wasn't the first one.

The afternoon progressed similarly. First, haircuts for myself and the little guy, who was starting to resemble Lou Ferrigno in the 1980s Hulk TV show, if Mr. Ferrigno had been one-fifth his size and slightly less green. Then, off to the drum lesson for the little guy, during which time I did some shopping for dinner. Immediately following this came swim practice, then home to slap together a dinner...one involving actual vegetables and a minimum of plastic-encased microwaveable synth-food... before taking the big guy to scouting.

Though I chafe at this pace early in the season, I do always adapt to it. A few weeks in, things gets more manageable as I find my stride and acclimatize to the pace of the average suburban American mom.

What always strikes me, though, is how little room this cultural approach to life leaves for creative expression or deeper awareness of anything beyond the prosaic demands of children's schedules. If your mind is consumed with these things, other things...like developing an artistic or musical gift and/or organizing the adult groups that are the sinews and tendons of a healthy community...can easily fall into disuse and disrepair.