Multitasking

A key survival skill of adulthood - and especially motherhood - is mastering the art of multitasking. At work, when I am not wearing my "mom hat," I've somehow got this one pretty much figured out. But sadly, on the homefront, not so much. It is not for lack of trying, I just find it really hard to juggle more than one thing at a time.

Perhaps it is the mental exhaustion at the end of a long work day. Perhaps it is three males all talking to me at once - and for the most part all asking me for something. But in a nutshell, there just are days when I know my fuse is simply too short. I am too tired. And I get frazzled if you look at me the wrong way.

So I need to accept that I will never be *that* woman who can gracefully cook an elaborate family meal and have it ready every night at 6:00 p.m. sharp, while simultaneously helping the kids with homework and overseeing piles of laundry. The more likely scenario in my house: dinner never makes it to the table and we end up eating cereal, I lose my patience five minutes into the "practice spelling test," (convinced my son will never know how to spell the word "diary" depsite the fact that all he reads is "Diary of a Wimpy Kid"), and the clothes stay in the dryer too long and end up hopelessly wrinkled and unfortunately a little bit smaller.

So imagine my delight when it occured to me that I could effectively multitask during Alex's recent soccer practice. I was almost giddy that I had the brain cells left in my head at the end of the day to figure out that while he practiced nearby I could either a) sit in my soccer mom chair staring at my Blackberry, or b) get off my duff and run around the school track. I am so glad I thought of this a full 2 minutes before soccer practice started so I could quickly change into my running clothes - and then proceed to play it off like it was my plan all along.

Of course we were painfully late for practice, but I still managed to run around the track at his school (and by "run" I mean jogged a little, walked a little) for just about 2 miles. I can't tell you how great it felt to get these two things done at the same time. Could there be hope for me yet?

Miles run since last update: 33
Miles run total this year: 106
Miles to go: 259

Jack

It has been a long time since I have blogged about my adventures in running this year. Between the summer heat, moving out of one house and into another, I literally feel like the summer passed me by. Okay, let's just face it. I also got incredibly lazy. There it is. But we are finally settling into our new home, and with cooler weather upon us I am running out of excuses. So it is time to begin again anew. No more putting it off for another day. For we are not promised another day, as I have been so achingly reminded of this past week.

As most of you know from my recent Facebook posts, Anna, a friend since high school youth group days - and one of my sister's closest friends - tragically lost her beloved son Jack last Thursday in the catastrophic flooding we had here in Virginia. Since that time, I have felt like I was living in a suspended state of reality, one minute crying uncontrollably for the loss Anna is experiencing, another minute cursing - yes, I am sorry to say cursing - God for taking Jack away from his family, and then another minute in total denial that it even happened. And if this is what I am going through, imagine what Anna and those closest to her family are experiencing.

I have heard from many friends who didn't even know Anna that they have been brought to their knees by what has happened to her family. And I have to believe that this outpouring of support from family, friends, and strangers has to be buoying all of them. So thank you. And please keep Anna, Tim, and their lovely daughter Margaret in your ongoing prayers.

Far more eloquent posts have been published about the miracle we all witnessed when Anna stood before more than 1,000 people and flawlessly paid tribute to Jack at his memorial service. Somehow, inexplicably, she managed to make us laugh, cry, and reflect upon her son's amazing 12 years. His strong, unflinching faith, his sincerity and kindness, his love for his family, his ability to be truly and purely joyful, his uniqueness. We all came to know better this precious boy who loved God and legos. And as I write this, I am looking at the cross made of legos that many of us wore at Jack's memorial service. As my sister said, "Jack would have loved this."

If I learned anything from the living nightmare of this past week, anything at all, it would be to take not one second for granted. I am holding my boys tighter, snuggling longer, and kissing them even more (much to their embarrassment). I am telling people that I love them. A lot. I am going to keep doing this, too. So, get used to it. And I am going to start running again. Because I can. Because I have been blessed with another day on this Earth.

Play with legos. Love your family. Be joyful. Run. For Jack.