I was walking with a friend and catching up.  She is an amazing person.  She welcomed us when we first moved in with a party at her house introducing us to the neighbors.  She baked cookies with my son when I forget he had early dismissal and didn’t make arrangements.  She is constantly arranging a fund raiser of some kind or another.  She has two kids of her own involved in all types of activities, a part time job and a husband who travels for work.  She also lost a dear friend and her beloved father within the last 12 months.     As we were enjoying the Washington greenery, she mentioned she is working on living more in the moment. 

I could relate.  I have “to do” lists can top 100. .. (not productive, I know!).  When I am home, something not done always seems to grab my attention, dishes in the sink, dirty clothes, or a late bill.  I find it hard to stop and just be:   be with my kids, be with husband, be with a friend, or be with myself and my thoughts.  I feel like I wasted time if I haven’t accomplished something I can check off and say “done.”  I realized being in the moment will never give me that type of satisfaction.  But for me, it is more important than most items on my lists.  My friend provided me a great reminder which was that much more compelling delivered by since she is struggling with the same challenge.

On Mother’s Day, I focused on being in the present.  I wrote about the wonderful things my kids did for me on my other blog.   I blogged here before about a surprise “Mom Rap” my son wrote.  He followed up with another one for Mother’s Day (as part of his power point shown above . . I took a few liberties with line breaks to make it easier to read).  Given my new focus, I noticed he hit on my struggle to be in the moment.

Hey mom you do deserve a break, everyone agrees. Mother’s day is the time to get that break. So settle down and listen to the mom rap.

Yoh! Yoh! Mom you’re the best and you need to take a rest. Now settle down, we boys can fix the house all around. No need to get your hair in a tangle, all that stress will make you want to strangle, yourself, the family will do the work while you read books off the shelf.

And now go lay down in bed, we’ll give you breakfast with bread, and give you all the fancy things you like, No need to argue please it will make your day worse and make you want to burst, and start getting mad! No please enjoy the day .

And for all the people who hate this, go run away.  

He clarified that the last line was for his brother who at 14 thinks anything his younger brother does has no value. I laughed out loud as he whispered this explanation in my ear so no one else could hear.

For all you like me in this respect, and if you are reading blogs here you likely are, maybe consider taking a few lessons from a 10 year old aspiring poet (that’s my word .. he prefers rapper).  I plan to take these pearls of wisdom, packaged in a rap, to heart.  I will “take a rest,”  “settle down,” “read books,” “lay down in bed,” and “enjoy the day.”  Or at least try my best  . . .  

If you have strategies to you use to stay in the moment while managing all your "to dos", please share.  And “please enjoy the day.”