Happy Monday blog world. The sky is just starting to lighten and I imagine that the sun is creeping up on the horizon. It is a new week and a new season. As hard as it is to say goodbye to the weekend and the lackadaisical nature of it, as much as I want to join the general population in a big moan that it is Monday, because it can be hard to Monday, I can’t. I like structure and doing things and while my weekends can be filled with doing things, they definitely lack structure. I also like the promise of a new week. Who doesn’t say, “I’ll do that next week,” or “I’ll start on Monday,”? Well, it’s Monday! That is precisely what I did yesterday, I said that I would try out a new schedule on Monday and here I am, birds chirping outside, pets water fountain bubbling in the kitchen, 15-year-old also in the kitchen making breakfast, soon to be joined by the sound of YouTube… I’ve said before that my creative time isn’t in the morning. But I also said, not too long ago, that I would honor my writing schedule by showing up, no matter the distractions, and the truth is that there are distractions all day long and now that the weather is getting nicer outside, well sometimes when my work is done, before the hustle and bustle of driving my people to and from sports, I’d like to enjoy some sunshine on an afternoon walk. I’ve been carrying my notebook with me for on the go writing, but it hasn’t been enough. It’s great to have it with me to jot down ideas, but the time typically isn’t sufficient. It’s funny how seasons of life change. I used to have these quiet evenings of my kids going to be early and then I would have a whole evening to watch a show, read a book, and write also. Now at least one kid is up later than me. At one glorious time in my life, there was a naptime/quiet time in my house. At that same time, we were starting our days as the sun began to creep over the horizon. All of this to say that our lives are always changing and our schedules always evolving. Darius Rucker sang, “it won’t be like this for long.” I just heard the sound of google awakening another teenager momentarily drowning out the sounds in the kitchen. Now the sound in the kitchen is a magnet shattering and teenager telling me that it should not have been where it was and that I can glue it. I laugh to myself and say, just throw it out. Distractions no matter the time of the day. So, this is my Monday attempt to create a new routine, even if it only for this week or this month or this spring. This is my Monday attempt at honoring my writing schedule. It is hard. As that thought came into my mind, so did Sheryl Crow singing, “No one said it would be easy.” And now I pause to send that song to my teenagers as my song of the day. It is not easy. It is not easy to get up before the sun. It is not easy to get out of a warm bed where my hubby is beside me when he’s not always there. It was not easy to plan for this time, which meant extra work last night that I would typically do this morning, cleaning up, packing a lunch, doing a load of laundry. It is not easy to stop to feed an animal (an actual animal-I’m not calling my children animals) or to wake a child. It is not easy to think of something worth writing. It is not easy to not get frustrated by distractions. It is not easy to leave the clean dishwasher full. It is not easy to overlook my typical morning routine. Most things aren’t easy, most things that are worthwhile at least. I know going to the gym after kid number three gets on the bus won’t be easy, nor will running on the treadmill. Last week running was so hard that I stopped after five minutes, my legs felt like they had cinder blocks attached to them and I was dragging! Some days of writing are like that, like when I sit for an hour or two and have little to show for it and wonder if it was a waste of time. Was it? I mean I could be doing something else right now or anytime I sit to write and nothing worthwhile seems to be coming out. I could walk away and go empty that dishwasher and think about all the things I want to write about and think that when I’m done, I’ll go write them down. But do you know what happens if you don’t capture the words and the thoughts in that moment? They are gone. They are a mist, just like our lives, fleeting. Here right now, but no promises of tomorrow. So, as I sit here and type my stream of consciousness because these are my Monday musings, I don’t know if this is time well spent or not, I don’t know yet if this is a good routine or not. But I’m here and I showed up and it’s Monday. Have a great day!

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