Getting Back to Normal...

I remember when our third child was born. We had been blessed with two children already, the oldest, a girl and then a boy. And although we had challenges, the whole parenting thing seemed to be going pretty well. And then we had our third child, a son, and suddenly we were outnumbered. And it seemed life changed in a big way.

In the days following his birth, I remember thinking everything will be fine as soon as "we get back to normal." Well, that was May 2001 and it has not happened yet! As I think about it, I don't think "normal" ever really existed, except perhaps in my mind. Since then, I feel like most days I am just managing the challenging, chaotic, fun, educational, loving, sometimes maddening, experiences that define my life!

Why is it we desire to "be normal?" When you are a kid, you want to be normal like all the other kids. When you get older, you want to be normal like everyone else... Seriously, who is really normal? Didn't a comedian once say, "normal is a setting on your dishwasher." What does normal really mean anyway?

Normal can have different meanings. I think I tend to define normal as "having a plan and following it." I am a person who likes structure and schedules and plans that are executed as planned. But in reality, since I have five children, this never really happens. And when I think it has happened, I am most likely just kidding myself or in a deep delusion.

So after this week's snow storm and the husband being home from work yesterday (which is so not normal) I feel like today is the day to get back on track with that plan, stay on schedule and have that elusive structure... Oh wait, we have a field trip today. That will throw everything off. Okay, then tomorrow.... Tomorrow, we will get back to normal...

Canceled

So for the third time this winter, due to the winter weather, our mid-week activities have been canceled -- I don't remember this many weeks being canceled in the past, but that is another story.... Although, this has created some sadness and frustration for my older children, who look forward to hanging out with their friends at their different activities throughout the week, I have rather enjoyed having nothing to do and nowhere to go...

So it makes me wonder...why is it we sometimes need circumstances (e.g. the winter weather) to force some blank space in our lives? We fill our lives with "good" things that take our time -- bible studies, music lessons, book clubs, hobbies, etc... And yet, there is a strange comfort, a peace, a calm, in finding out you have nothing to do for the day or the night. Now don't get me wrong, I will be ready to return to my regularly scheduled life -- after a few days I start to go stir crazy. But, maybe, just maybe it is good to take a break, to be bored for a little while and have nothing to do. It takes something outside of my control to put life on hold. It makes me wonder... Do I have enough blank space in my life?