The Important Things

When you are a boring adult, it is so easy to lose sight of the important things. You get caught up in work, travel, destination, your goals, and bottom line. You envelop yourself in studies, reading, hobbies, your business, and anything else that occupies. You see your goals, what needs to be done, what should be done, and the dog hair forever collecting in the corners of your home.

Things have to get done. We have responsibilities!

I am just as guilty as everyone else.

Today, I had a task of things that I wanted to get done. I wanted to clean the kitchen (a necessary evil EVERY day or else flies and mold might collect), do a load of laundry (or people will have to wear their underwear inside out), go to the post office (needed stamps), Michael's, get gas (below "E"), get things at King Soopers (Colorado white corn is top notch), and if time allowed check out what produce Berry Patch Farms had in their market.

I had no intentions of straying from my path of must do.

I spent much of my morning (people seem to think I live on facebook, twitter never use it, pintrest hardly use it, and whatever other social media is there any? that exists so why bother explaining my morning). I had a plan just as I always do. My plan usually includes do something with the kids spattered in somewhere in the list of things that needed to get done. Today I decided while I was driving around from destination to destination, that the kids would choose what we did. We needed to get gas (I was on "E" after all), but that was the only need. While we were getting gas, a child asked for a car wash. We got a car wash. An extra five dollars had four kids with smiles.

We pulled up to Berry Patch so I could look at what produce they had and four children almost simultaneously ask, "Can we pick berries Mom?" Well...I hadn't planned on it. We had no sunscreen, no water, and I had $20 to my name.

Sure, why not. Everyone on the tractor. Smiles all around.

You are the best Mom!

We proceeded to walk what seemed like miles of rows of blackberry bushes. Many bushes had not yet reached ripeness. Thorny, patchy, red, grasshopper jumping bushes. The kids were overjoyed when one of them found a single ripened blackberry. It was like Christmas: all faces lit up. Then, Logan found a bush FULL of blackberries! Our hero!

We spent two unplanned hours at the berry patch. We picked blackberries, strawberries (going out of season, but still yummy), pet the goats, roosters, chased chickens, and walked through a field we weren't supposed to (oops!). We left sunburned and totally happy and I spent a whole $12 cash.

And, against my better judgement, we went to McDonald's afterward.

More smiles.

When we finally got home from our day, it was nearing dinner time. I asked the kids what they wanted to eat (I almost never do that) and they asked for SOS. Yep, "Shit on a Shingle", only they requested beep on a shingle. All ate with joy (even Daddy who came home and ate while it was still warm: Wow! Haven't had this in awhile!).

Then, it was time to do what we always do: it was dojo time. Usually, we are there 5 or more days a week. We are one of the most dedicated and loyal families there. We are there day in and day out, running a-muck, or working our butts off. We are like a piece of furniture there. It's our second home. Yet, it is summer and like everyone else at the dojo, we are there, but we are also phantoms coming and going.

As dedicated as we are, I am very hard-pressed to make them break from whatever they are doing to go to karate. They are busy being kids. I had a lot of time to be a kid when I was a kid and I want them same for them. So when they told me at 5pm (when we would be getting ready to go to karate), "Mom, can we walk over to the canal and look for crawdads?" How could I ever tell them no? All four went off together (while both Greg and I checked up on them secretly). They spent an hour exploring.

My house, my chores, to-do lists, and commitments can wait. My kids won't be kids forever.