Productive

If you walked into my home right now, you'd most likely think that I haven't been very productive around here these past couple of days.

You'd see two baskets of laundry sitting on the living room floor pleading to be folded & put away {& that's not even including the load that's been sitting in the dryer for the last several days}.  You'd see that the carpet needs vacuuming.  You'd see toys strewn all over the house.  And you'd see a pantry that is bare & longing for food to come & fill up its shelves.

See?  Told ya.  Not very productive.

But then again, I suppose that it all depends on how you measure productivity.   

If being productive means keeping an impeccable home, having all errands completed, & a to-do list with tiny check marks next to each item, well then yeah... 

this week, I pretty much suck.

But if being productive means filling up the days with laughter, living in the moment, & being absolutely one hundred percent present, well then, in that case... 

this week, I've been quite the overachiever. 

Little mister & I have been having some precious quality time.  

During the morning hours, we've nestled in tight in our big comfy rocking chair, reading book after book after book.  We've jammed out to every kids cd we own & we've made row boats out of laundry baskets.  Come afternoon, we've dumped every puzzle & scattered the pieces all over the floor, we've wrestled & giggled, & we've played hide & seek.  We've colored on the drive with sidewalk chalk & we've kicked a soccer ball all over the yard.

Oh, & how could I forget.

We've jumped on furniture.

{I realize that in some homes, jumping on the furniture is forbidden.  But in this house?  We jump on furniture.  And it's fun.  Life is too short for firm sofa cushions.}

We ripped those cushions off the couch, flung them across the room & made a bounce house out of our very own living room.  We tumbled & rolled; flailed & catapulted.  I even broke a sweat.

It was awesome.

Sometimes the feeling of being productive has nothing at all to do with how much is accomplished in a day, but has everything to do with how much isn't accomplished in a day.  

Sometimes it's less about to-do lists, errand running, & hustling & bustling.  Sometimes it's more about treasuring fleeting moments, looking into the face of your child & realizing that tomorrow that face will be just a little more grown up, & taking the opportunity to live the day, rather than merely get through it.

Sometimes it's about seizing a moment to jump on the couch cushions while jumping on couch cushions is still cool.

Sometimes what seems to be the least productive day, in actuality, ends up being the most productive day one could ask for.  It's my "least productive days" that I always seem to go to bed with the biggest smile on my face, thinking to myself, "Man, I nailed it today."  It's my "least productive days" that I feel I'm doing a really great job at being a mom.  It's my "least productive days" that yes, leave behind a trail of messes, but also leave behind them a trail of perfect, sweet memories.

I'm positive that twenty years from now, Jett won't have a clue that the lunchtime mess sat dirty in the sink while Momma & him played with puzzles.  I'm sure he won't care that we had to slide piled high laundry baskets to the edge of the room in order make space to build our tents & forts.  And I bet he'll never recall the half inch of dust on his bookshelf that we had to get through before reading all of those books.

But the fun we had?  The laughter we shared?  That won't ever get glanced over.  That will remain in that little heart of his forever.

And for me, it doesn't get more productive than that.

So tomorrow those two baskets of laundry & I will face off.  Tomorrow I'll drag a kitchen chair into the living room to knock down dust bunnies from high to reach places {which have probably grown into full grown dust rabbits at this point}.  Tomorrow I'll sweep the crumbs up off the kitchen floor instead of brushing them off my feet.

But not today.

Because I'm making today a productive day.

Have a great weekend!  Let's be productive, shall we?