Time

What to do when a few minutes' time to oneself suddenly dwindles to nothing, because of an unexpected illness or injury in the family? I'm posing myself this question tonight--not explaining exactly what happened, but let's just say, a minor crisis occurred which is enough to upset the fragile balance I'd worked out where, on a good day, I was able to carve out something like twenty minutes for this blog, ten minutes for yoga and free weights, five minutes for a shower, fifteen minutes at the piano and ten minutes reading something. Let's see--that's 60 minutes. Is that really all the time I had on an average day over six months? Yes--beyond a few other business matters I attended to, and non-baby-related errands and chores, that has been my non-baby-related life for six months. Now, even those 60 minutes seem threatened.

The trick, perhaps, is to think differently about time. In reality, I was often watching the baby while I took care of those simple tasks--I've brought him into the bathroom while I was in the shower, I've plunked him down in his bouncy chair while I played the piano, and so forth. And he didn't seem to mind too much, in fact, he often seems pretty content these days to be left alone for a few minutes, as long as there has been some sort of intimate contact between Baby and Mommy right before, and as long as I try to talk to him during the activity. (I guess we're all a little bit like babies in that respect.) I suppose that I mustn't think of it in terms of "carving out time for myself," but instead, in terms of, how can Baby and I get through the day without running roughshod over each other in terms of our personal schedules? I'm not sure I've completely figured that one out.