You've got to make the morning last...

At 9:00am yesterday morning, I said "C'mon kids, get your sandals on. Mom has an errand to run."

"You mean we're not driving?" they groaned.

"That's right," I responded cheerily, foolishly assuming my enthusiasm would be infectious and convincing, "I think we all could use the exercise."

And for the next FULL hour, we debated the benefits of walking vs. bike riding; we filled sport's bottles with water; we poured pretzels into bags and apparently some pockets (I know this because last night - gasp!- I washed and dried a load of laundry); we changed the tiny pair of pants on a certain almost three year-old who hadn't quite made it to the bathroom despite her genuine efforts to do so in a timely manner; we searched for shoes. When at 10:15 am I finally locked the front door and we started inching our way toward the quaint and placid storefronts of downtown Chesterton wearing grimaces and identical annoyed expressions, I asked myself again for the thirtieth time in thirty minutes (trying my darnedest to limit the scope of my questioning to the situation at hand) "IS THIS WORTH IT?!"

At the utilities office where I paid our water bill, there was a bowl filled with candy - not boring Tootsie Rolls, mind you, but Starbursts, and Gobstobbers, and Charm Pops. On the way back, while my children sucked, chewed, and licked their unexpected booty of sugary goodness, I had fifteen minutes of silence away from the mess of dirty dishes and scattered game pieces to clear my mind and quiet my soul. When we walked across the street, Elijah linked his arm in mine just because. It took a ridiculous amount of time to get home, which, it turns out, was no big deal, really, because I am blessed enough to have hours and hours at my disposal to be tested, stretched, humbled, and redeemed by way of motherhood.

This afternoon, I've planned a trip to our local library; if only I'd thought last night to gather the books...or cards...or DVD's. "C'mon my dears, it's growing late - we'd best get started."