Home again

Yeah, we're back home. We had the most wonderful vacation, but it was also good to be home again. Well, after spending nearly eight hours in the car with two kids under the age of six, we would have been glad to arrive anywhere. But arriving back home was sweet. The weather had turned ugly the night before we left and by the time we got home it was really, really raining hard here, too.

I don't know about you, but the last years, coming home has usually meant some sort of chaos. Bags and stuff everywhere, in various stages of unpacking and just lots of stuff that needs to be put back. This time, it was different. I have no idea what it is, but when I walked in the door after just ten short days away, everything seemed so nice. Clean. Crisp. Filled with light. Uncluttered. Spacious. Unpacking was a breeze, too: Dump 99% of clothing into laundry baskets, sort and start laundry in the basement and put the other stuff back to where it belongs. My box of kitchen stuff and food I took with me (you know, spices, some flour and sugar, coffee, pasta and an emergency jar of tomato sauce, the great apple juice and the other lovely things we bought along the way) was unpacked in five minutes flat, while making a pot of tea.

Not quite sure if this is due to living in fairly cramped quarters with my three boys for those ten days or the fact that this lovely Bavarian apartment was just so different from my normal surroundings (while being the most charming place ever, I have to say). Or maybe the sense of projects still to do and things still to declutter and finish I have living here everyday simply means I completely fail seeing what we did already accomplish and declutter?

In any event, it's a good thing, because a day after being back I was right in the middle of making multiple to do lists, phone calls, running errands, doing paperwork and trying to get all sorts of things done before starting work again next week and before summer is over again and big brother starts school (gasp. Big brother will start school this year. Someone pinch me!). I wouldn't really have the time for any house projects right now anyway. So I guess I better try and preserve that I-like-my-home-the-way-it-is attitude!

Ah, my lists. One of the best things about vacation was to really and truly let go of to do lists. The only times I ever opened my to do app was to check off my recurring tasks that kept popping up. I didn't realize I had that many. Ugh. Maybe it's time to delete them from my list and focus on the things I really have to or want to do? It sure was nice to have the decision where to go for dinner as the only to do of the day. Sigh.

It was really nice to slow down. Even though days were full, they seemed longer. A week seemed like a week again. And now? We've been back since last Monday and it feels like yesterday, and not like a week as passed. I have no idea where the time went. Yes, we did get a lot of things done and we did a lot of fun things, too, but I can feel the days go by faster again. Maybe it's about being in the moment more or focusing on just one thing at a time, or focusing on nothing at all, just staring at the lake and the mountains.

I think I need to take a day off. Every week. One day without anything to do. Now, how do I fit that in my schedule? Actually, I have no idea. But I'll be trying to make Sundays free again, and slow down. At least that one day. Any advice?

Swenja