Reflections
I took this photo just before sunset a couple months ago when the duck pond down the hill from my house still had water in it. The photo has nothing to do with knitting (unless you want to speculate about colorways and do a duck pond reflections colorway). However, it’s an apt photographic metaphor for my current state of mind.
Last weekend I helped my youngest child move into the university dorm for the third time. My baby is a college junior, my eldest is 23. And still, my mind remains stuck in Mommy mode in unexpected ways. For 18 years, chaos has ruled my household the week before school began. The level of chaos has subsided significantly in the physical sense, but mentally I haven’t made the adjustment.
Years ago I fell into the pattern of planning and scheduling projects and goals for the next calendar year during the kids’ winter holiday break. When the school year ended and I had summer activities to work into the schedule, I reassessed. The same happened when school resumed in the fall. Now, the kids are grown and handle their own schedules, transportation, and shopping, so these school year changes really don’t affect me much. My mental pattern is set, though. It’s as ingrained as the seasons in my psyche, and I’ve decided not to fight it. Periodic reassessment is a good thing.
And what have this week’s reflections on the year to date shown me? Overall, it’s been a reasonably productive year so far, with enough golden moments to keep me smiling more often than frowning. I can’t ask for more than that. And so I shall enter the final third of 2007 with an updated schedule of goals and commitments and renewed enthusiasm.
And just to keep this firmly on topic . . . my youngest reminded that I should finish sewing together the purse I knit for her so she can use it. Plus, winter will be here soon, and I should get started on that mohair scarf we talked about. I’ve penciled both those projects into the new schedule.
Last weekend I helped my youngest child move into the university dorm for the third time. My baby is a college junior, my eldest is 23. And still, my mind remains stuck in Mommy mode in unexpected ways. For 18 years, chaos has ruled my household the week before school began. The level of chaos has subsided significantly in the physical sense, but mentally I haven’t made the adjustment.
Years ago I fell into the pattern of planning and scheduling projects and goals for the next calendar year during the kids’ winter holiday break. When the school year ended and I had summer activities to work into the schedule, I reassessed. The same happened when school resumed in the fall. Now, the kids are grown and handle their own schedules, transportation, and shopping, so these school year changes really don’t affect me much. My mental pattern is set, though. It’s as ingrained as the seasons in my psyche, and I’ve decided not to fight it. Periodic reassessment is a good thing.
And what have this week’s reflections on the year to date shown me? Overall, it’s been a reasonably productive year so far, with enough golden moments to keep me smiling more often than frowning. I can’t ask for more than that. And so I shall enter the final third of 2007 with an updated schedule of goals and commitments and renewed enthusiasm.
And just to keep this firmly on topic . . . my youngest reminded that I should finish sewing together the purse I knit for her so she can use it. Plus, winter will be here soon, and I should get started on that mohair scarf we talked about. I’ve penciled both those projects into the new schedule.
posted by LauraP at 6:03 PM
3 Comments:
Bags and scarves... sounds like a good addition to any plan! But your post reminds me that I need to get more on track. Even though summer isn't quite the same now as it was when I was in school, I don't seem to have kicked the habit of goofing off once the weather turns warm...
Beautiful photo, Laura. I think there's something to a Reflections colorway. Shades of gray with just that hint of pink in it.
You'll find that it doesn't matter how old your kids get to be, you go into Mommy mode when they're home. Are you hungry? Do you have clean underwear? Will you be home for dinner? And on and on and on ...
I'm just getting back into knitting after laying off most of this hot, hot summer. A mohair scarf sounds lovely. But I made so many purses these last two years that I'm through with them for the time being.
I agree with Fran: I think the colorway of that photo is lovely. In fact, I was just coveting a beautiful Scottish tweed tote in exactly those colors. (My sister-in-law just returned from a trip to Scotland and brought home a gorgeous catalogue.)
My children are still at home so we've made the obligatory run to Staples for spiral notebooks and locker decor. Now they're engrossed in marching band and soccer practices respectively. After Labor Day, the routine sets in again. I'm half grateful and half sorry to see the unstructured days of summer end. However, I will probably get more done once I have to get up early in the morning again.
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