Back To School.

Back to reality.  I am the living embodiment of a cliche - the at home mom.  Which is fine and a little disappointing to me.  It doesn't quite fit with my life less ordinary moniker but it's also what I wished for and to get what you want (not just what you need) is just so luxurious.

We were classic Californians over the summer - going to the beach, the pool, the mall for ice cream.  Sleeping late, running through sprinklers.  It was lazy and relaxed and wonderful.  I won't insult you with complaints of endless food prep or sassy kid moments.  I have the life of Riley, my kids have the life of Riley.  We work very hard to have it be that way and practice gratitude and giving each day but there's no doubt as lives go - ours is good.

Then school starts. Immediately the lazy is whipped into frenzy.  The relaxed becomes frantic.  The pace is sprint.  The to do list long and apparently unending.  We live by clock and calendar.  We juggle schedules and the dark circles return under my eyes.  We have been back at school 5 days and I feel the fatigue settling deeply into my bones.  It can't be the way to go.   I'm not saying life should be a year long summer break (OK I am but only in my fantasy world where Ewan McGregor is my husband and we travel the world in an RV doing good deeds.)   Back in the real world where I have a wonderful husband and occasionally rent an RV  (and in case you were wondering yes, I am fully aware that calling the husband wonderful will not get me out of the Ewan McGregor sized hole I am in.)  I just want it all to even out a little.

Maybe I should consider it the interval training approach to life.  Each semester being the intense burst of heart bursting, breathless activity punctuated by the rest period provided by the occasional week off for winter or spring break.  Problem is - I've never been very good at exercise.
Nevertheless I will put my best running shoes on and give it my best because that's what a parent does and I have a cliche to uphold.  If you have found a different way to do it, clue me in. Please.