My (New & Improved) "To Do" List

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,

to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, 

and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

~ Henry David Thoreau ~

As I sat in a small group counseling session last night, I was reminded, once again, of how fragile life is -- how quickly any one of us can be gone.  So, today I am giving a lot of thought to the briefness of my time here and how important it is for me to make the best of what I have, rather than focus on what I don't have.
This has been brought to my attention several times recently, and I wonder if there isn't some reason I need to take the time to reflect on it......

Last April, I learned of the sudden death of a woman I had briefly known.  She was a mother of two children (11 & 14).  For a short period of time, she was my hairdresser.  From what I have learned, she was awakened one morning by a heart attack.  Her husband was already gone for work.  Her children did what they could (I can only imagine their terror).  She did not survive.  She was 47 years old -- alive one day, gone the next with no warning.  Now every time I drive by  her house I am reminded.

Where Does the Time Go?

I cannot believe three months have passed since I've sat down and written anything here!  Where does the time go?  I'm honestly wondering if I can even remember how to use all the features of this blog site.  I first set this up in the spring and spent so many hours trying to figure it all out.  Now so much time has passed, I hope I can remember what I'm doing on here.

The summer is basically over at this point.  We had a wonderful time in Canada and, as with last summer, beautiful weather almost the entire three weeks.  I will post something about our trip soon.  Right now, though, my mind is on adjusting to our new fall schedule and routines.  For the first time since I've opened my home daycare, I have a full time child here in addition to my own two children.  Up until now I have only accepted before/after school children and the occasional younger child for a few hours here and there.  This is a huge change for me.  So far, things have been going okay.  The little boy is nice and, overall, well-behaved.  I think, however, the honeymoon period is beginning to wear off.  Little things are starting to annoy me, and day after day of not having "me" time is beginning to wear me down.

My weekday evenings are also slowly filling up with other activities and obligations that I hope don't become too overwhelming.  At the same time that I am looking forward to it, I am dreading the day my tutoring assignment begins, as it will fill up two of my evenings each week.  It is wonderful to get out of the house and be teaching, but sometimes (especially in the middle of winter) it is difficult to make myself get up and get out.  Knowing I am bringing in some much-needed extra income does help, though.

The newest change this fall is that our first born is starting preschool!  Here he was on his very first day:

I am very excited for him to be entering into this phase of his life, but it's also another small sign that he is slowly growing up and becoming more independent.  So far, he has adjusted well and loves going to his new school!

Soon it will be his sister's turn to begin as well (this time next year, actually).  But, well, I'll just not think about that right now....