mundane

I blinked. And another week passed quickly. Wasn't it just last Sunday night that I was sitting here writing about what sort of weekend we had? Yes, it was. One week ago.

One of the things I hate most is when someone asks me how my _____ was, and I can't quite remember what exactly I did. This past week was one of those weeks. I don't really know quite what we were doing to make the week pass so quickly.

It probably has something to do with the mundane. For those of you who have read this blog before, you may know that I write quite a bit about the mundane. For me, the mundane is

the part of life that you must do to survive. It's meeting needs, not necessarily wants. It's doing what is right in front of you instead of looking ahead and meeting a future goal/completing a special project. It often involves the practical parts of life.

For me, usually meal preparation, housework (both inside and in the yard), bathing children, lots of routines and copious amounts of laundry constitutes the mundane.

At times, I am completely at peace with living in the moments of the mundane. After all, motherhood is an enormously high calling and all it encompasses is vital and important. But there are times when I ask myself, "isn't there more to this life than just meeting the needs of both myself and my familiy? What about identifying and pursuing some of the wants?"

This part is so important for humans, and mothers specifically. Whether it be finding time to knit, sew, go for a run, attend a yoga class, meet a friend for coffee, go on a date with your husband, put your house in order, write a blog post, attend a birth, receive a massage, go for a haircut and many, many other seemingly insignificant pursuits, it is important to do something for yourself out of the realm of the mundane!

Today, I beat the mundane by spending the better part of my afternoon on the front lawn with my children building a lean-to. Yes. You heard me right. A lean-to.

There is just something I have always loved about pretending to be fighting for survival and needs to build shelter, find food and the like. Apparently my kids have inherited this gene because they too enjoy living like nomads and building forts of wood.

The fort is amazingly sturdy, spacious and would serve us well if indeed we were stranding out in the middle of the forest for the night.

There was lot of teamwork, heavy lifting and loads of laughter during the building of this pretend home. In the end, we were all very proud of our handiwork and all huddled inside to see just what it would be like to share such a small space.

The kids asked me if we could leave it up forever. I told them we would just have to see how long our little fort lasted.