“Time is money,”  people say, as if money is more important than time.  Wrong!  Time is TIME!  Once upon a time, I spent my time keeping spotlessly clean, glorious order in my house. Then, I had children and all of my order was swept away.  For the last 10 years, Ive had to come to terms with mismatched socks, messes of every kind, and even  *GULP*  leaving my bed unmade.  Pretty radical stuff!  Those are what folks call “little things” and they should not be minded.  The problem is, my brain minded them, but I realized that minding these “little things”  distracted me from the big, important things- like Gia giving me a make -over or Jack building me a Lego tower.  And that’s how motherhood re-aligned my priorities. I would advise everyone to enjoy each moment that is good, savor it, even. That sounds so cliché, even though Im as serious as it gets as I type this.   I say so because it is the truth and I have found this truth in my 30’s.   Seems like I had more time to do more stuff when I was in my 20’s, sans kiddos or even when the kids were small and I was not driving them to afterschool activities 4-5 times per week. That’s why I was able to write more, watch more TV, just relax more, put together presentations for work. Nowadays, we are on the move constantly. Some weeks, it seems we are living out of our SUV,-there ‘s so many clothes and snacks in there that we could survive at least the first week of the Zombie Apocalypse, maybe even longer.   Am I the only one who would welcome an alien abduction right now? The relief of not scrambling from place to place to make practices and events, while trying to find time to yourself and spouse is pretty irresistible.   How do I deal? I relish the moments in between the hectic schedules. I put the phone, pen, book down when Gia or Jack launches into a story about his/her day. Arrgh! That’s so difficult to do sometimes! But it’s super important! I make a conscious effort to be present and to make them see my presence, my interest.   In a world where everything is a competition and we are daily barraged with images/stories of people who do more, look great, eat healthy, make more money, have more fame, are funny, smart, it is easy to compare oneself to the best people and feel as though you don’t measure up. Ive come to realize that finding peace means not being weighted down by my shortcomings in comparison to others, but, rather, celebrating the things I do well and working on making them better.  This all sounds really great, but there are moments of weakness, when I get off track, wander down someone else’s road, pondering why Im not more like him or her.   The truth is, there is a lot to be said for minding one’s own business, instead of everyone elses’. When it comes to priorities, schedules, how I spend time and with whom I spend it, what activities we choose as a family- these things are MY business. What other people do in their lives is theirs and comparing oneself to another, well, you might as well compare apples to oranges.   No one family is exactly like another so if you’re trying to be like that super family (the one where everyone seems perfect), don’t bother. Trust me,   no family is flawless! (They feed their kids cereal for supper 3 times per week, just like the rest of us). Create your own unique life and experience it fully. And when life becomes just too much, hand that business over to God.     Handle the business of YOUR life and try very hard not to compare yourself, but look at all the great things YOU do and take joy. Take joy. Have peace. Find happiness.