Pressed for Time

Lately I feel like 'time' is the only commodity I have and everyone wants a piece of the action.

The other day I was asked to bake a couple of pies for a fundraising dinner.
I immediately went into denial mode, 'I don't really bake pies.... I guess I could buy a couple...'.
'Oh, no, don't do that!  You can MAKE them!  I know you've made chocolate and lemon pies before; they're good, bring those!'

You're sort of missing the point.

In recent weeks, my son has been asking me what I'm doing - every. waking. minute. of. every. single. day.  I've taken to telling him that I'm building a rocket ship to fly to the moon.  To which he earnestly replies, 'No Mom, you can't fly to the moon, you have to stay here!'

He's also missing the point.

My life has become an endless laundry list of things to do (laundry is also one of the things *on* the list).  Between feeding kids, cleaning kids, dressing kids, picking up after kids, laundry, dishes, housework, yard work, work work, a husband, and a cat, I have precious little time left for myself.  Time, it seems, that everyone else wants: 'Hey, come to this dinner!', 'There's a meeting...', 'You should help clean the pool', 'You're going to play ball with us this season, right?', '...teach Sunday School?'

There's a time for all of that, but it's not right now.  So I need to ask you all to just be patient with me while I look after my kids.  In a few years' time they aren't going to need me so much and then I'll once again have time to do whatever it is that you need me to do.  I'll be able to bake pies without a toddler clinging to my leg and a pre-schooler asking me 10,000 questions.  I'll be able to go to dinners without my kids having temper tantrums.  I'll be able to prepare Sunday School lessons, and go to evening meetings, because my children won't need me to help them got to sleep. 

Believe me, you, I'm looking forward to the day that I actually have some free time again.  It'll be awesome to sleep through the night again, and not be exhausted at 8pm.  To pick up a hobby, or just sit and read a book!  But I'm not rushing to get there.  Right now I have hungry mouths to feed, and little fingernails to cut, tiny buttons to do up, and goldfish crackers to dig out of the couch cushions.

To my son: don't worry; I don't actually have the time (or the knowhow) to take on such a lofty project as building a rocket ship.

As for the pies, I'll stop by the bakery on my way home from work.