To be honest, I don’t know that I was ever really grounded much as a kid. Maybe a couple times? That’s not to say I was some sort of perfect teenager but I would say my rebellion scale was pretty light (unless my parents remember differently??), which meant there weren’t many times I had to be forced to stay home as punishment.

For some reason, the phrase “grounded” came to mind in this sense today, though, as I was doing my meditating mama thing with Truman after lunch and trying frantically to ground myself after a whirly swirly morning of pinging from one activity and location to the next. When we are young and getting ourselves in trouble, grounding can be one of the ultimate consequences, but now as an adult, I find myself seeking moments of forced slow down more and more.

Of course I realize these are two different meanings of the word, and certainly the reaction to each is different, but is the outcome really that different? When the world is spinning madly out of control, or just moving faster than you might like, making yourself stop and coming back down a notch or five, is so beneficial, so restorative.

Today I had Raegge’s end-of-year program at her preschool and HD’s end-of-year picnic at his school and a fruit bowl to prepare and a kid to get out the door and two others to get dressed and another nursed and down early for nap (so a sitter could hang with him while the rest of us went to preschool) and get myself showered before 7:30 which always adds an element of challenge and intrigue to our morning routine.

Breakfast? Well, the children got fed but I did not, but you can bet your sweet bippy that I got my coffee, so by the time we got to eating muffins and fruit after RL’s adorable program, I may have been jangling a bit. But there is no rest for the caffeinated (no really, that’s the point, isn’t it?), so right after I dropped the Middles off back at the house, this time with the grandparentals, I darted off to HD’s shindig where I didn’t exactly help much but I did get some extra time with him which was super. 

And then back home to make some travel arrangements and feed people lunch and get the baby down and really, this isn’t all that different from a normal day’s chaos, except all the coming and going is really pretty foregin to me, so grounding I needed. And grounding I will need quite a bit as we transition from school to summer and all the fun and activity we have coming in the next few months.

So breath. Grounding. Forcing myself to stop to take stock of the current moment, keeping my head from spinning right off my head. Because when I do that, when I stop myself from just bouncing from one thing to the next, I get to embrace all the beauty that is around me, even when it means a messy floor, laundry baskets scattered around the house, random shoes everywhere underfoot, and a table that still needs to be cleared from a meal or activity or two ago.

I think I’ve been waiting for all this to slow down, but I am learning instead that I need to accept that this is my reality. This house and this life and this heart are so full. Although it would be nice if everything could be neat and organized, both in my house and in my head, this is what it is. This is who I am. And I can find groundedness, even in the midst of all this. What more can I ask for? (OK, a house elf would be great, but ya know, win some, lose some, eh?).

P.S. Raegan is a wonderful little photographer!