Hectic Lives in Holy Week

I'm just taking a minute to jot out some quick thoughts. I've actually been working on another post for a couple of weeks, but it's been very piecemeal. Our lives have been especially hectic the past few weeks. Last week my son and I were sick. Today it's my daughter. My glasses also broke (so I have taped them, officially achieving uber-nerd status). The new frames came in early last week, but I just haven't been able to go in to get them fixed.

It would be easy for me to get frustrated about this. Actually, I have been frustrated about this. My wife is more 9-5. So when stuff like this happens it usually falls on me, the one with the more flexible schedule, to take care of things on the domestic end. My work tends to go to the back burner at times like these. I get frustrated, but not with my wife; she is putting food on the table, after all. I just get frustrated. Last week was my daughter's spring break, so I had about two hours of dissertation time. I had planned to squeeze in more, but, like I said, we were sick. That was frustrating, too. And last night, as I was looking forward to maybe finishing up a couple of things to get to my adviser this week, and my daughter came out of her room covered in vomit, I was frustrated then too.

To childless folks that my sound harsh. They might think I should look forward to spending quality time with my daughter on her Spring Break, or that I should be more sympathetic when my kids are sick. Actually, I did spend quality time with my Kyla (she went horseback riding for the first time), and I did feel very bad for my kids, and I pray that they get better. Last night I slept on the floor next to my daughter, who was on the couch, so that she wouldn't wake up in the night and get scared, and so I could be there if she got sick again. But I think, for most parents, our sense of love and compassion for our children doesn't take away our stress and anxiety about all the things on our "to do" list. Only crazy people lose their individuality when the doctor hands them their kids. They just take on another role, a dominant role, to be sure, but it doesn't negate the other parts one must play in life. So, we can feel two things at once.

I was frustrated this morning. My wife went to the Presanctified liturgy, while I tried to keep my almost-two-year-old son from bothering my sick little girl. Now, while she is sleeping on the couch and I am taking a moment to type this, I am reminded of what Kathleen Norris said in the Quotidian Mysteries, that even something as seemingly "mundane" as folding laundry can be a spiritual act. I am trying to remember that as I fetch my daughter saltines and tackle the world's largest laundry pile. I'm Orthodox. I should know that a washcloth or a freshly washed pair of pants can become a holy thing when it provides an opportunity for quiet and an occasion for reflection and prayer.