4:40 a.m… and counting
I awoke with a start. I opened my eyes to discover it was really, really dark. I had to think about what day it was, and smiled sleepily when I realized it was Saturday. I thought about going back to sleep, but I was surprisingly alert. I checked my watch. 4:40 a.m.
Whoa! I'm an early riser, but that's super early on a Saturday even for me. Not to mention, I'd stayed up unusually late the night before. I laid there for a minute and decided to get up. As I put on my glasses and dragged myself to the bathroom, I thought about all I'd accomplish in the approximately 2+ hours I'd have to myself before the rest of the house got up: I'd jump ahead on my to-do list and draft a proposal for a big keynote and make a dent in a still-unfinished video editing project. I'd even have time for a workout. YES! This would be perfect since Hallo-weekend had me tied up with a million other things.
But as I was brushing my teeth, there came the unmistakable sound: "Mommy and Daddy! I'm awake!" WHAT?! NOW?! NO!! First, it's way too early for a five-year-old to be awake; and second, I NEEDED this time to be productive. I rushed out to tell my husband: "He has to go back to bed! It's too early." And what did he say to me?
"Too early? It's 6:45 a.m."
Um, what?! I looked at my watch in confusion. It said... still 4:40 a.m. Uh oh. That couldn't be right. In the over two years since I've had my Apple Watch, it's never "frozen" like that. I then realized it was super dark because it's fall and it was a dreary day. Truth be told, my immediate thought was an expletive mixed with panic. I had just fantasized about getting so much off my plate earlier than expected... and that workout before a busy weekend sounded pretty enticing.
No sooner than I finished that thought did my five-year-old rush down the hall into our bedroom. He exclaimed: "LET'S MAKE A CAMPFIRE!" In the next 90 seconds, he collected a pillow, his dinosaur-shaped nightlight, favorite "stuffies," and some books. He propped up the pillow under our covers to "pitch" a tent, set his dinosaur nightlight to red to mimic fire, and assigned us all sleeping sections in the "tent."
We spent about an hour "camping." I immediately forgot about my to do list. I laughed and marveled at the inventive imagination that only a child possesses. I never got a "real" workout in, but completed a 15- minute body weight circuit. I'm now writing this Sunday night at 9:52 p.m. when I usually prefer to unwind with a book before the week ahead. I drafted the keynote proposal earlier this evening, which was actually two days sooner than I'd scheduled to finish it. As for that video editing project? It still sits untouched for over a month, continually pushed off to another day, so what's another week or so?
I share this because it's real life.
Technology fails. We stay up late and sleep in. You know what they say about best laid plans (whether they're in your productivity app, to-do list, or an early morning mental fog). We simply must give ourselves grace. The work is always there and somehow seems to get done. I'd also argue that I was more productive -- in a much more important way -- during our camp-out than I would have been in two hours of solo work.
So when the time came, I decided to "extinguish" our campfire nightlight, but left the tent up until bedtime. I needed a reminder that no matter what the next morning had in store, it would be just right.
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