So my Dad called yesterday with his regular, "What have y'all been doing?" and I found myself stumbling for an answer yet I am busy from the second I wake up until my head hits the pillow (and the 5 or 6 hours of non-stop breastfeeding while asleep!)
But somehow in the back of my head my daily tasks such as the dishes, cooking, cleaning, homeschooling, laundry, reading, gardening, playing, giving kisses, singing songs - this isn't what spills out of my mouth when I think about what I'm "doing."
Is this because these tasks are so ingrained as ordinary I don't comsider them, or is it because they aren't considered by our society at large?
When did the lexicon of "something" take on an "outside of the house" conotation? When did housework become non-productive background noise in the preformance of our lives?
I feel much comfort from this quote by Ezra Taft Benson:
"There is no satisfactory substitute for mother, and no one can take care of her children as she can. No so-called social obligations, social enticements, or outside interests should impel any mother to neglect the sacred charge that is hers of caring for her own flesh and blood. I feel confident that while civic and social activities may be rewarding, a mother will serve her community and her nation best if she first devotes herself to the needs of her own children." (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], 518.)
Somehow I feel stuck on drama and outside measures of accomplishment instead of the value of simply being present. (Perhaps this is why my student loan bills are over $500 per month?) Is this the true advesary in our lives? This promotion of conflict between social expectations and family, when there should be no conflict?
I wonder.....
