I woke up, fed Noah, and waited for the four other kids to traipse over to my bedroom where we start our day out with lots of hugs and a cartoon from under the warm comforter. (Turns out a king sized bed fits one adult and five kids just perfectly.)
Seeing as how it was Noah's "three month birthday" and all kids were present and in seemingly good humor, I decided to snap a photo of the growing lad with his big sisters and brother. Easy. Done. They were even all looking...kind of.
I sat down to complete what should have been a thirty second task - download the picture from my camera card to my computer. As luck would have it, my card reader (which has been on the fritz for a while) didn't recognize the camera card. I remembered that we bought a new one a few weeks ago, but I didn't remember where we put it. Determined to complete the "thirty second task" I searched high and low, in drawers, even in the attic with the Christmas lights that I knew we bought at the same time, only to find it on the "camera bag shelf" where I should have looked in the first place. Except...that card reader didn't work either. At this point, I'd invested about thirty minutes into the thirty second task. The cartoon was over. Bellies were hungry. There were simultaneous, urgent demands for Juice! and Milk! But, alas, I did not waver. With my eyes set on the goal, I properly ignored my thirsting and hungry children and pressed on. With the two card readers, I tried a different laptop. No go. Ten more minutes gone. I moved to the desktop computer in our office, but I don't know the passwords anymore because I haven't used it in three years. Call Sam at work. No answer. Ask Ben. Get logged in finally only to find that the built-in reader on the monitor doesn't recognize the card either. Give Ben a ten second lesson how to make waffles and continue on.
Frantic and now worried that I might never get to see the pictures we took of our first full family vacation to Disney World (oh, by the way, we went to Disney World in February), having seemingly forgotten the reason I started this task in the first place, I finally remembered that I can plug the camera directly into the computer. Only, when I try to copy the files "Windows Explorer" encounters some obscure, un-fixable error and has to restart. No go on the copying. I tried "importing" (a fancy computer word for "copying") and it finally worked. Five minutes later all of my photos from the past two months were on my computer. I could share the sweet picture of my Noah boy and his four big sibs. Wait. The internet was down.
Frustrated and nearing tears. (Over a photograph, mind you.) I persevered until, finally, at 11:21am I uploaded the picture. Yes, that's right. At least three HOURS after I set out to do it.
Is this a noteworthy story? Not really. So why am I sharing it? Because sometimes it feels like every thirty second task I set out to do takes three hours. I have a backlog of ideas to write about a mile long, things I want to do around the house, with the kids, for others, but every day I first have to feed, clothe, bathe, teach, and enjoy my family, maintain general sanitary conditions, and strive for some a small semblance of order. These things alone don't allow for thirty second - turned - three hour tasks...or even thirty second tasks, to be honest. Maybe time management isn't my strong suit (it's not). Maybe motherhood has given me attention deficit disorder (I truly believe it has). Maybe I just wanted to pat myself on the back for having the wherewithal to complete one, simple, innocuous task for what feels like the first time since 2003.
Some days are just like that. I'm calling it a teachable moment.
"See kids, perseverance pays off. And you might never have learned to make waffles on your own otherwise."
To sum up...this is why I don't blog a whole lot.
God Bless, Friends. Enjoy your season. Wherever you might be.
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