Rhythms

Life has a rhythm. We have patterns and routines we do everyday. We build our lives around those routines. And then, sometimes, we change them all.

So far, I have only been home for two work days. It's really rare that I took a day off of work to be home like a staycation, but I often had a day off in the week when I worked the weekend. So it's not like being able to get things done around the house is foreign to me. So here on Day Two, I am still feeling like I am on a sort of vacation. I am getting tons done, but I haven't quite grasped that this is life will be like from now on.

Today, I brought the laundry into the mix. I had to beat it into submission a bit, because although Chris is an excellent doer of laundry, he doesn't go looking for trouble. He lets trouble find him. Translation: Athena had about two weeks worth of dirty clothes crammed into her closet. This explains why she keeps saying she has no pajamas to wear when I know I just bought her several sets only a few weeks ago.

Since these first two weeks are all about cleaning and getting organized, the natural rhythms of the weeks will not really form right away. I can't form routines around rooms that are not as they should be. At work, I would be putting out fires that sprung up in already orderly and normal routine. But here, nothing is normal and everything is far from ordinary. Although I put a good three hours in on Athena's room today, I only feel that I have done about half the work required in it. Fortunately, her brother is not nearly as slovenly, so I will be able to put three hours into his room and have it organized, neat, and have all the books cataloged complete with metadata and subject tags. Seriously.

The reward I will feel when these two weeks is over, even if I am not completely finished, is going to be significant and profound. That seems ridiculous, but so be it. We have lived in a constant state of frenzy and disorganization for way too long. I am so excited to have the chance to finally wrangle it in at least a bit. I know that things will never be perfect, but I also know that we can definitely improve things by a large margin.