Stopping by the Garage Sales.

Today is the day my girls have been counting down to for weeks.  Every year our block sets a date for a block sale.  My girls save their money and go and blow a wad on my neighbors clothes,stuffed animals, polly pocket dolls and Barbie accessories.  They make the rounds several times, chatting like eager Black Friday fanatics.  They pre-shop each garage, then make several rounds back as their money dwindles and smaller items seem more valuable.  They are not content until they blow the whole wad and make several trips back to fill the living room with their booty.

Aside from the avaricious nature of this activity, it seems the apple does not fall far from the tree I have planted in my life.  On this day, while they were busy shopping,I found my opportunity.  I greedily set out to conquer my to do list--jumping from task to task barely touching base with the equally busy girls.

As I finished mowing the lawn into a manicured state I'm sure it has never known, I felt satisfied with my accomplishments.  But then I was immediately sad--it was time for the kids to go to bed.  I missed them.  I missed them most of the day and i had been in (or near) the same house with them.
It made me wonder how much more I will miss them when I am working full time.

I flashed ahead to the picture of Maddie standing near the screen door as I looked up from my laptop on the deck.  She said, "I just stopped by . . . I'm going back out".  It struck me that someday, sooner than I would like, she will say those same words and then drive away in her car.  She will stop by and I will only be a stop in her day, like she stopped from garage sale to garage sale. 

This is the thing I absolutely hate the most about not homeschooling--the demand for time on my day that I allow to squeeze out the most important things.  Time with kids is the rarest commodity I have and the greatest commitment. I hate it when clouds of duty make me trade the best for the least important.

Already my kids are comfortable entertaining themselves.  Already the life they have lived has gaping holes in it where I should have been--mentally and physically.  Already, I am wishing I had done more garage sale shopping today.