Priorities and Boundaries

Recently, I have had to spell out on paper what hours tenants in the building I live in as Superintendent can contact me. It was getting to the point that I never knew who would be at my door, and what for. Most of the time, it is for something that is not even in my job description to handle.

Sometimes, we all have to sit down and think about what is most important to us, and set boundaries as to how much one item on the list can impinge on another. Our lives have become so full, with work, scheduled activities and other commitments, that we forget to take stock of just what really means anything to us.

We've started at a much younger age too. There are children as young as six who live their lives by a calendar posted on the kitchen wall. Hockey, soccer, piano... the list is endless. By the time these kids reach their mid teens, they are already burnt out. Is it really any wonder that so many turn to lives of drugs and/or addiction to video games? When do we start to rethink just how involved we really need to be?

Only a generation ago, families had a lot more time together. Even if both parents had to be working to make ends meet, it seems like there was more time spent talking, rather than each person in his/her room on a computer or in front of a television screen. Most homes only had one or two of either to begin with.

Maybe it's time we all stepped back, one or two days out of the week. Leave the work on the desk for a few hours. Don't plan, just do. It doesn't even have to be anything big and exciting. Maybe just a favorite meal, sitting around the table and finding out what everyone has been up to over the week.

That used to be what Sunday suppers were for. The family sat together and summed up their lives for the week, and looked ahead to what needed to be done in the week ahead, and what could be put off.

I have not even reached middle age, and sometimes I long for something as simple as sitting at a table with the people that mean something to me and just finding out where they have been and where they are going. Norman Rockwell, eat your heart out.

V Day Invasion

Ladies, gentlemen and others, (You know who you are!) the day is nigh! The day when those of us who don't think to prepare make that mad dash and scramble for the perfect piece of paper. No, I'm not referring to taxes. (Though you might want to make a note of those too.) I'm talking about Valentines Day, and the card that expresses just how you feel about your significant other.

Last year, I was well prepared, and purchased a lovely card before the groundhog even poked his nose out of his burrow. This time, I've left it down to the wire. Now I have to go into the stores, find out what remains of the stock, and try to find something that can even come close to matching how much I love my wife.

A television character once said, "You can't spell inspiration without procrastination. Well, at least the 'ation' part." If necessity is the mother of invention, I think that procrastination is the mother of desperation. Let's face it, when you keep saying "tomorrow", one of these days it's going to turn out to be yesterday.

On the other hand, my wife and I have opted not to do gifts this year, in favor of a short vacation at the end of the month. This doesn't get me off the hook for the card, but at least I'm not wandering around the mall, like so many of us males, looking for something that says "romantic". Just wait until tomorrow morning. The sheep will inundate the stores with varying degrees of panic on their faces. It's the invasion of the last minute shoppers. Happens every holiday, like clockwork.

If you will excuse me, I have to get out and find a card.