In an effort to break down some of my writing-fear (discussed in Sunday’s post) I’m going to try something fresh. Every night this week, I’m going to post about my day. It’ll be a free-write, similar to the way I write my daily journal. And I’m only going to give myself twenty minutes to do it.

There’s nothing quite like writing free and posting fast to break down emotional barriers.

SO… let’s get to it!

Exhausted by 10 AM

I tend to front-load my days because that’s where my energy is, but even I can admit that today was a little ridiculous. Before 10 AM, I:

• Edited my novel for 40 minutes
• Did a 20-minute workout on the elliptical (and finished season 4 of The Good Place)
• Showered/got myself dressed and ready
• Made breakfast and packed lunches for both kids and me
• Finished tidying up the house for the cleaning service to come (“cleaning up for the cleaners” is both insane and necessary) and put out the cleaning supplies/payment
• Dropped the kids off and drove to school, listening to the latest episode of Pantsuit Politics
• Moved several instruments and all of my teaching materials to another room because it was Fire Safety day and my office was in the assembly zone
• Had a fire drill
• Taught two lessons, one of 5 kids and one with 9
• Within one of the lessons, started one kid on his instrument (the rest of the kids are 4 weeks in).

I sat down at 10 AM with a brief break because my students were all at the Fire Safety day assembly and thought, I am completely spent. How am I going to get through the rest of the day?

Second Wind

I plugged along, and managed to get a lot of focused work done (including more on my novel during lunch), send some important emails, and do my 10-minute exercise sequence before band rehearsal. As it turned out, I was glad I front-loaded my work. I ended up feeling fine after lunch and coffee, and the rest of my workday went at a normal pace (at least, normal for a band teacher with 200 students).

At home, I tried to get some chores out of the way so I could focus on writing and having time with my son tomorrow during our Yom Kippur holiday. It didn’t quite work out– my daughter was being particularly clingy, bursting into tears if I tried to leave the room to make dinner or put laundry in the dryer. But again, I plugged along, making space for lots of cuddles and kisses, and by the end of the day I felt good about everything I’d done… except for the one time I lost patience with my daughter when she was in the bath crying that she wanted to get out but also didn’t want to put on her towel… not my best Mom moment.

In Summation…

If I was really writing in my journal instead of a blog post right now, I’d probably leave it there. But I feel the need to sum up my day in some way, so I’ll just say that today was a day that I felt blessed by all the loving relationships and fulfilling work in my life. I’m ready to get up at 5AM and do it all again.

(I guarantee that not every journal entry this week will be ending with such optimism/gratitude.)

It would have been smart of me to take a photo at some point today to add to this journal. I’ll try to remember to do it tomorrow. I’m not great at interrupting my day for photos, or social media, or anything that takes me out of the moment. (Clearly not Instagram’s ideal consumer.)

Anyway, I took this photo over the weekend when my husband and I were at a farm-to-table restaurant in Vermont. While we were waiting for our table, this hot air balloon appeared! We watched it as it floated over the next hill just before we were called inside.