Not Tonight. Or Tomorrow.

December 12:

You get a lot of advice, immediately prior to having children.  And all of it boils down to something like: "Say goodbye to everything you enjoy in life, and also basic hygiene, because you will never again be able to shower or read a book or kindle any delight in your life other than that which is to be found on the self-immolating altar of Motherhood.  And you will like it, damn it."

I didn't really enjoy hearing this, pre-baby, but post-baby, I've decided to extract what wisdom I can, which basically boils down to a foolproof excuse to stop doing all the things I didn't really like doing in the first place.

For me, this has proven to include:

• Cooking
• Cleaning the bathroom
• Cleaning the kitchen
• Cleaning really anything
• Making pretenses at yardwork
• Going to the Post Office
• Responding in a timely manner to work-related emails
• Half-hearted stabs at personal grooming
• Staying up past 9:00 PM
• Dressing in things that are not stretchy

That said, I'm starting to suspect that we parents do, when it comes down to it, make time for what's really, really, really important to us.  It's possible that the folks who say "I haven't read a book in five years" weren't big readers, anyway.  Maybe the non-exercisers never liked it all that much. 

But if you love something, you demand time for it, and you basically do this by going after that sucker like a crazed hound after a rabbit.  The list of non-baby-related things you accomplish post-parenthood is necessarily smaller, but it does help to illuminate your priorities.

Here, apparently, are mine:

• Reading
• Exercising
• Practicing
• Writing

Now, on to divining what else I can let slide!