Wednesday, June 20, 2012

the art of distraction....

.... or of being distracted.



I haven't posted in a week or something close. It's not because I haven't had anything to write about or haven't been up to any amazing craftiness. I've just been incredibly busy. In my life that usually translates to undeniably distracted All.The.Time. My mom used to tell me stories of how easily distracted I was as a child. She would ask me to do something super simple, to which I whole-heartedly agreed, only to find me ten minutes later mesmerized by the TV somewhere between point A and point B. She would laugh about how hard it was to get angry because it really was just an innocent distraction. My heart was always eager to please, but my busy brain got in the way. Now, as an adult, I am constantly baffled by the very same trait in my own kids. I can hear my momma's sweet voice in my mind retelling those stories, and it diffuses whatever annoyance I have with just a sliver of resolve to train them to hone their skills :)

I learned something from my mom about distraction. Not only was she incredibly gracious to my own wandering mind, she was also relentlessly distracted by my sisters and I. We have often said that we don't remember her shewing us away so she could work, or telling us she didn't have time to play with us, or even shushing our silly childish questions. We remember her dropping everything to play. listen, answer. Being distracted isn't always a bad thing. In fact, I think some of the things society frowns upon as being time wasters, are simply the things that we should be chasing after anyway. It's become so cliche to say "stop and smell the roses," but isn't that some serious wisdom??

It's funny how losing someone can shift your thinking so quickly. Just a year and 3 months ago I lost my sweet momma. We lost her to cancer. This will probably sound strange, but I'm so grateful for the first bout of cancer that she fought and won, because it threw my sisters and I a healthy dose of reality. I think we soaked up so much life from my mother in the years after that, so many amazing memories. We became crazy distracted by her, and her life. And now that she's gone, I am crazy obsessed with the art of being distracted the way she was.  I am counting these things less as distractions and more as gentle redirects from Jesus, reminders that these are the things that really matter.

Like just now, I took a ten minute break from writing so that Jere could hold my thumbs. It didn't make or break my day, but it was awfully important in his little two year old world.

So, what have I been up to?? I've been at the farm, hauling my basket of scraps down the the creek so I can make fabric roses while the boys play. I might have spent less time flowering and more time watching, but who cares? I've been soaking up the sight of Jere's tiny camo boots and playing with the new lens on my camera (distraction courtesy of my amazing hubby) by taking pictures of my TOMS. This is the life of a happily distracted momtographer.



I hope this finds you grabbing life by the horns, getting distracted along the way, and loving every minute of it. Happy Wednesday :)

3 comments:

  1. Girl, you are crazy good! You have no idea how crazy good!

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  2. I love this, seriously a great remeinder because sometimes I do find myself busy and not welcoming the distractions. I TOTALLY want my children to know that they are loved and I will stop anything to spend time with them, definitely a learned discipline! Thanks, this is just what I needed! :)

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  3. Ben Embry just gave me the link to your blog, and I absolutely love it! I just got my first good camera and have been shooting up a storm. Also, just thought I'd mention, I wear Tom's shoes. Exclusively.

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