I’m kind of a type A personality.  For instance, my greatest joy of the last month was the arrival of my new calendar. From 7am to 9pm, each weekday it’s broken down into 15-minute increments.  Y’all don’t even know.  I bought special pens for this calendar.  There are colors for various activities. It’s darn near sexy.  The weekends are represented as well, but they have fewer lines which makes sense, since weekends tend to be less regimented.

This year, my kids are in different schools, in different counties.  They have different start and stop times, and different fall and spring breaks. My son plays soccer and is on the academic team.  My daughter is signing up for after school activities.  When she gets into a routine, she’ll likely get a job…cause momma’s not made of money.

My situation is not unique.  Many of you have two or more kids in multiple activities.  So you may have found yourself in the same situation I was in last week.  I had the “bring on Friday” mindset, and it started on Monday.  “Lord, just let me get to Friday.”  And “We’ll regroup over the weekend.” And “Just wait until Friday.”  Basically, I found myself spending Monday through Thursday waiting for Friday through Sunday.

I’ve spent a lot of my life “working for the weekend.”  However this weekend, as I was filling out my AMAZING new calendar and noticing how busy the week ahead looked, I heard my inner voice say “One day at a time, it’ll be Friday before you know it.”  While I believe “one day at a time” is a very healthy practice, longing for Friday is surely not.

First, tolerating 4 days a week so I can enjoy 3 days a week is no way to live.  Mondays make up 1/7 of my lifetime.  I better plan to enjoy them.  Second, and this is the big one for me, I have a Junior in high school.  Life is moving very quickly and that girl is going to fly before I know it.  I will be darned if I’m simply going to tolerate the NINETY-TWO Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays between today and the day she is handed her high school diploma.

It looks like this is going to be the busiest year of my 16 year parenting career.  Additionally, work has presented some not-so-fun challenges, taking up more time each week.  There are going to be a lot of opportunities to wish the days away and pray for the weekend.

This year can be a hurried blur of trying to keep up or it can be a series of accomplishments and time well spent.  My calendar, broken up into its exquisite 15-minute increments can run me, if I don’t run it.  The thing that stands between steady intentionality and (what my girl loves to call) complete chaos, is a choice.  It’s going to be a daily choice.  I may have to make it three times before breakfast.  I choose to love my Mondays through my Thursdays. I hope you do too.