Purging my Morning Thoughts (a blog post about nothing)

I start each day with the best of intentions. I have set my alarm for 5:00 a.m., which almost guarantees I'm out of bed by 5:30 but I have had several 5:00 a.m. mornings lately. The gift of that extra half hour is a wonderful way to start my day.

That bonus half hour gets swallowed up into the day so fast I don't know where it went. But it's gone. That half hour is supposed to buy me the time to do all I need to do for "me" before my daycare day begins. Every morning I do my best to have life neatly tucked away before the door opens. Then the door opens early. Or it snows. Or I'm folding that load of laundry I had time to do. Or I'm finalizing a blog post and racing to the finish line. The more time I have, the more I think I can do and I still feel like I'm running behind.

So I (eventually) grab my cup of coffee and settle in on the couch and think I will do nothing but absorb the wonders and stories and conversations of my little daycare crew. It works for all but a minute.

The minute I sit down, one of several things happens: a nose needs to be wiped; someone needs something from me; I see something I should be doing; we should go outside; the whole crew sits down beside me; a parent will text me; someone needs to go to the bathroom or be changed; it is time to start preparing for a meal; or I will distract myself and realize there is "one more thing" I should do before I forget. My "sitting on the couch and inhaling the day" moments last as long as a soap bubble before it bursts all over my face.

Yesterday it was my income taxes. They are haunting me in a big way this year. I thought the way to take that worry off my plate was to give it to someone else. "Give" is probably not the correct word to use because I don't think they will consider this a gift, thus some money must change hands. But it will be worth every penny for my peace of mind.

So I made one quick call and my wish was granted. "Just bring your prior two years income taxes with you, along with a print out of your expenses." Easy enough. I had just worked through those papers a few days ago and all the numbers and revisions were done. All I had to do was print them off. Except I had made one little mistake, so in my haste to correct my error and print off my work I made a few more mistakes. Then I wanted to ensure my paperwork was neat and easy to follow, so I revised and printed and revised and reprinted and revised and reprinted some more.

While I was in the mood for calling professionals to do do my dirty work, I thought I should make an appointment to redo my will. That did not go according to plan. I thought an appointment with a will and estate planner at my financial institution would do the trick. But no, it wouldn't be that simple. Nor do the hours coincide with mine. I will have to find another way, another time.

I started writing up my daycare newsletter during our quiet time. I had completed the first draft of what I was going to consider good enough and then I received a text from one of my parents, which changed some of my "Comings and Goings at Daycare" news. Which is good and bad. Good, because I was feeling a little bit stressed over taking on this child temporarily. And there was really no "bad" side to it. I had tentatively written this income into my budget but I don't think I even gave it a dollar value. I bought new back doors based on another child who didn't end up coming and "this" was supposed to replace "that" income. But it all works out in the wash. So no, there is really no bad side to this. I am somewhat relieved. Except I have to rewrite part of my newsletter now.

I have columns to submit and I'm running out of time. Just as I have run out of time once again this morning. Here is to hoping today has enough quiet moments within it to do my job the way it is supposed to be done. "In the moment." One sure has to plan for those "in the moment" moments, don't they?