Ahhh.... yes. Snow days. The kids are home, the family is gathered together, laughing and sipping hot cocoa over playing a game of SORRY while the whispy snowflakes come fluttering down outside the windows. Well enough of that myth.
Tomorrow I'll be returning to work, returning to the grind. I haven't gone any where except the store in the last week and some change. So you would think there's nothing to report on. But wait! Even though I had that giant, babbling two year old running in perpetual motion throughout the house, the sloth-like, gangly teenager sprawled out across the couch and the slightly humour-less puma-like manbeast stalking between his den and the kitchen EACH AND EVERY DAY!!!!!!!! I still found a healing place to share about...
my home.
Each day was a new exploration of self and of others, of the people that I see and talk with everyday but this was a good time for connections. Now, I'm not saying there was some magical, uh, um... thing that happened. It was just at home with my family. At the beginning we were so in love. After 2 or 3 days there were times in the day that I wished everyone, gone and I could have cared less where to. I'm sure they were getting sick of me, too. But something funny happened. We all started new patterns and we moved passed one another with less friction and confusion or awkwardness. I find it funny because I think I'm figuring out that even though we live together, we don't have enough time with each other to be ourselves.
Our lives take us to school, to work. We interact with so many different people in the course of 7 days that its taken for granted we need to center ourselves often. We get caught up with how to relate with others, how to talk to your boss, how to be gentle with words for a friend, how to keep up boundaries with a client, how to be fair, say the right thing, say what's on your mind without saying all of the details or saying them and then having to deal with the aftermath. At least, that's how I go about much of my day. Getting caught up in the details of managing relationships. But while I was at home, I found a process that I can use to help me stay centered; stay true to me. I painted.
Oh, you should see this place now. Creeping flowers up the side of my bedroom door, more abstract blue paint on my front door. A sun in an orange sky on a light switch plate and then there's my altered book. A biggie. It seems my youngest son becomes extremely calm and centered when I put a paint brush in his hand and place him in front of paper taped to the wall or easel. Thank God.
But I got even deeper with it and painted the cupcakes I made for Valentine's Day. Just playing with the food coloring to make shades of pink brought me to a place of clarity. And the kids went outside to paint snow with the remainder food coloring. It was peaceful. AND I was productive. Completed our taxes, started on my financial aid form for school this summer, worked out a plan to re-do our kitchen, payed our bills, cleaned, spent time with the kids, special time with the hubby, family dinner with Buck Rogers.
I took a test once. It said I was part extroverted, part introvert. It does drain me to have to talk, to work with so many people on a day-to-day experience. But I enjoy people, especially in small, intimate groups. I like to get to know people over tea and laughter. It was a good exercise for me to spend this time with my family in this way.
Oh yeah, you wanted to know the process? I learned that when I need to be recharged I can pick up a paint brush for a short 15 minutes and immerse myself in a quick art project where I can see the end product right away. I can then with peace and renewed strength, go back to the larger project (the taxes), to the room full of people (work) or even the snarly man that has eaten my last cupcake!? That might be taking it a little bit too far.
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