A Day Off

The other day, my little guy asked me when we were going to have a day off.  I kind of laughed and responded that every day is a day off during the summer (laughing mostly because mommies never get a day off).  "No," he insisted, "I mean the kind of day off where we stay home and just play.  You play with me, Daddy plays with me, you know!"

It has been a busy, busy summer here in the Bluefield household.  I don't understand people who say they look forward to summer because it's less busy and more relaxing.  During the summer we are on the go.  All the time.  I can count on one hand the number of days we have just stayed home this summer.   Just to give you an idea, we have had plans every weekend this summer, and about 3/4 of those weekends we have been out of town.  We don't have a free weekend until after Labor Day, and even then we still have soccer and karate on the weekends.

We have so much fun together!  Camping, summer adventures, other day trips and longer trips.  We work so hard to provide for our children, physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, and it is so easy to get caught up in the act of providing and to never stop and simply be with them.  In the midst of all this busy-ness, it is easy to forget that what our children crave most is...us. 

One look at our calendar convinced me that a day off, a real day off, as defined by Roger, would be a long, long time coming.  But his simple question reminded me how easy it is to incorporate a little bit of that day-off feeling Roger has been missing every day.  It's that feeling of Mommy's-got-nothing-more-important-to-do-than-spend-time-with-me-doing-something-I-enjoy, because that is the most important thing.

Photo courtesy of AKD

This week we have stayed home as much as possible.  We built block towers.  We jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler going underneath.  We swam in the pool together.  We read books.  We played with trucks.  We drew pictures.  We played board and card games.  We sat on the porch swing together.  I got up early and stayed up late to do what needed to be done to keep the house running, making these "days off" possible.  And it has been worth every moment.