_JPG.jpg)
I haven't written for the past 2 days. I don't want to make excuses for it, but I do want to explain what life is like during bridal season. I would say prom season as well, but so many of those have been cancelled this year that I haven't had the usual volume in prom dresses.
During this time of year, it takes about 2 nights to get 1 night of sleep. I try so hard to arrange life so I can get more sleep, but it always happens this way anyway.
There are predictable days of the week that I sew like my world is on fire and do pretty much nothing else. Coffee, lunch, bathroom breaks, and anything else that might be considered personal just gets put on the back burner while I run in that groove.
I honestly don't even feel hungry during those times of intense work. Food just isn't part of my focus then.
When I do finally get to bed, it takes all of 3 seconds to fall into a dead state.
Kris steps up during this season to make many more meals than usual. The kids have chores to (sort of) keep the house clean. Plus, they can't have screens until they've earned some of their keep.
My work with brides and prom girls is exhausting during... You know, I was going to say during the spring and summer, but it really goes for a majority of the year. Winter is least busy, but business never just stops unless you count unicorn times like a nation-wide quarantine.
Enough about that.
Even with all the work of this past week, I was excited for Friday night. Our friends had invited us over for a campfire, along with another family.
Kal whirled around on their tire swing. I'm surprised his dinner/snack/more snack didn't fly out on tangential lines as he flew through the air.
My kids and this family's child played together as if they hadn't seen each other for a whole week. It really had been more like 5 days. She was the friend who was here at our house for a soaking wet day of water balloons and water pistols on the trampoline last Monday.
The campfire and good company refreshed my soul like nothing else.
I don't remember much about the Five Love Languages book (by Gary Chapman), but I do remember quality time being one of the languages. That has to be my love language.
Gifts are nice; nice words are nice; physical touch is okay; acts of service are wonderful. Spending time, one-on-one or as a group, tops the list for me.
(Interrupt this to find the Five Love Languages on Google. Look up the free quiz. Take the quiz. I was right about my results. Quality time is my primary love language. Gifts mean diddly-squat if you don't want to spend time with me.)
If you want to take the quiz, it is here at https://www.5lovelanguages.com/.
Today was another good example of quality time. It was quite a spontaneous trip about an hour away to the lake house my aunt and uncle have. The group today was rather small for our family. (If you know my family, you know that no event with us is small. A family with twelve kids naturally has supersized events.)
That small number really gave me time to visit with relatives I don't see nearly enough, and when I do see them, I can't spend enough time with them. Today was great.
Also great: the boat ride, the kids splashing around in the lake, the kids kayaking and fishing, the laughter floating up the hillside to us as we watched them in the lake.
Quality time can't be replaced with anything else, and though I hate to bring up the morbid topic, we never know when we've just seen someone for the last time.
Appreciate the time you have with people.
Comments