There I was, sitting in the basement bathroom of my ancestral home escaping the family escapades for a moment of peace. I noticed a stack of games in the corner. A game called “Tip It” stood out. Do you remember it? A clown of sorts balances upside down on his nose and you rearrange rings on the tripod he balances on. If you put too many rings on one pod he falls off from the weight. Whoever caused the fatal unbalance loses the game. As I sat on the only throne I will ever sit on, I pondered how I felt like that little guy balancing on his nose. The only difference between me and him was his game was limited to 2 -4 players, my game had an unlimited amount of players.
The balancing act of motherhood is a difficult one. We all feel like we are balancing on our nose. Most of the time we do pretty well, but sometimes someone puts that ring on our balancing act that causes us to fall. It could be the kids get sick, or the dog. Maybe the roof starts leaking, or the furnace breaks. A playdate cancels, or an unexpected client dinner pops up. The three year old thinks he’s twelve and your twelve year old is acting like she’s three. Whatever it may be there are interruptions on our days. My mind is in a constant state of weighing and measuring priorities. In the daily life of a family there is just no way everything will go smoothly and as planned. If it did we’d be suspicious.
There are oodles of books and articles written on how to find a balance in life. It’s an age old question that continues to be unanswered. Kind of like parenting books. If there was one true answer there would be only one book and everyone would follow it and our children would all be happy, well adjusted children. Well, there isn’t one true answer to parenting and there isn’t one true answer to balancing. Want to know why? Because life is in a constant state of change. Each and everyday brings on new challenges that are beyond our control. What happens in our world, communities and sometimes even our own house is unpredictable. It’s a beautiful spiral that never stops and forces us to change, grow, develop and learn. Guess I shouldn’t worry too much about tipping over when I’m trying to balance. Who knows, I may land somewhere where the ground is much more predictable.
