I am my plant

This poor plant of mine.  I glanced over to it a few days ago and found it in the sad state above.  This is not a plant that sits in a dark corner somewhere in a room I don’t go in, but rather it sits next to the front door.  I see it everyday and somehow managed to forget to water it for who knows how long.  Actually, I didn’t forget to water it, I just couldn’t find the time to water it.  That sounded ridiculous in my head and even more so in print.  How could I not find time to water a plant, it takes all of 30 seconds. 

I couldn’t find the time because every now and then I feel like my plant looks.  A baby who is always happy as long as she is being held or looked at, a son who is always busy, a little girl who is always nearby, work that cannot wait, cleaning to be done, groceries to be bought, lessons to go to, and so on and so on leave me feeling like that plant. 

The last few weeks I have only been good at one thing, if the house is clean, I am behind on my work and the kids are orphans; if my work is caught up, the house is the aftermath of a tornado and the kids have fed themselves all day; if I have stocked shelves full of healthy delicious food with planned meals for the day, all my clients are mad and the house is just plain awful; if I decide to get rid of it all and work on Christmas ornaments to fill my advent calendar, we eat take-out and get dressed in the laundry room from the clothes in the dryer. 

It doesn’t take long after those 30 seconds I took to water the poor guy and he starts to look like this.  There is a little more life, it has picked itself off the ground and has probably come to the realization that some days you are watered and some days you are not.     

Today the house is clean, the laundry is done, my work is done, there is a chocolate peanut butter banana snack waiting for us in the fridge, there is a tent to play in that I made, we ate healthy all day and all the kids are happy.  

Tomorrow may be one of those days when all the water is gone and I drag myself on the ground.  We may eat terribly, barely get dressed, go late to school, watch the house fall to pieces and struggle just to get through to the end. 

Either way is ok because I am coming to the realization that some days you are watered and some days you are not and it is not good or bad, it is just the kind of day it is.