Last weekend was our first long roadtrip since my daughter was a baby. She sleeps a lot less now than she did then, so we weren’t sure how she would do.
She loved it. She spent half the time looking out the window and half the time “reading” books. She was so content!
It rubbed off on me. Sitting in a car for a long time is challenging right now due to my fibromyalgia, but I handled it with more grace than usual (at least, I think I did … honey, after you read this, tell me if I’m wrong!). I focused on making sure my daughter had what she needed and then tried to enjoy the time with my family. My husband and I listened to interesting podcasts and talked about them. I prayed a Rosary. Sometimes, we just sat in silence. We’re both so busy that we don’t always take the time to just be together, and the road trip ended up being a good opportunity to spend time with each other without distractions.
Toddlers are so good at reminding us to be present—partly because you have to be to keep them safe, partly because you want to be to treasure the time that goes too quickly … but also because they don't do any planning for the future or dwelling on the past. They aren’t frantic, wondering what will happen next. They aren’t ashamed or sad, ruminating on what happened before. They just are.
I’m not saying we don’t sometimes need to think about the future or remember the past. Obviously, there is merit to both. But I, at least, tend to spend way too much time anywhere but the present. Thanks be to God for the many, many lessons motherhood is teaching me, including this one.
Here’s what I read this week…
I am terrible at remembering that I have audiobooks and e-books available to me (which is why we did not renew my Audible subscription this year! I still have several I haven’t even started!). However, I’ve been enjoying the audiobook version of George Weigel’s biography of Pope St. John Paul II (affiliate link). I’ll finish it eventually (or just buy the print version!), but in the meantime, I got a lot out of this article he wrote for Word on Fire about JPII and suffering.
This piece that Denise Trull wrote for Dappled Things was a beautiful reflection on what we can learn from Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” (a masterpiece of Catholic literature) about cynicism (and why we shouldn’t be cynics).
Did you know that Sophie the Giraffe is named after a saint? We don’t have a Sophie, but I still found this article on her history interesting.
No new books to report, but please leave your recommendations in the comments!
Don’t forget to check out my website, EverydayRoses.blog!