Busybody

I've been following a great blog lately.  The writer has a daughter with Downs Syndrome and is an amazing writer, photographer and mommy.  Reading her blog makes me laugh, think and often she writes so many things I am thinking and feeling, as I walk this new road with Isabelle, navagating therapies, appointments, insurance, people, etc.  

I was reading her blog last night and she wrote an entry called "Busybody" that I loved.  Being busy and telling everyone about how busy I am is a trap that I can sometimes fall into.  Using busy as in excuse to not help someone or to get out of doing something.  Assuming that because I'm busy with an above average number of appointments and communting to appointments, that I am in this world of busy that no one else can possibly be in.  But the reality is, most people are busy.  Most of us have a lot we are trying to juggle, they're just (as the blog writer says), " not so jackass to have to shout it from the rooftop."  And I know how frustrating it is when you talk to someone who can only tell you how busy they are, how they are so much busier than you will ever be, don't even have time to talk to you, etc. and so on and so on.  So, I'm going to take a tip from this writer and try not to be so busy and take more time to spend on those I care about and less time telling those I care about how busy I am.

Here is what she wrote, and I love every word:

"Busy becomes this black hole that mysteriously abducts us away from the humble land of availability. I've lately been reminded though thatevery one's busy. They're just not so jackass to have to shout it from the rooftop.

I think we often make the mistake of assuming that our worth somehow corresponds with how busy we are. I've done it myself--advised dating friends that if a guy calls, tell him you're busy. You're in demand. You're just sooooo tied up with fabulous things that make you busy, busy, busy.

I'm tired of the word busy. Try saying it over and over--it's annoying. I've been busy all year (I swear I'm going to stop saying busy), and it's time to take a tip from old people and take some time to slowly shuffle, fold wash cloths, knit booties and maybe even play a game of cribbage or two. That makes us significant just as much as crazy schedules, if not more.

I stopped myself yesterday before I answered. You know what? We're not busy right now. Our December is full of opportunities to connect--calendar dates that call for both Out & About as well as Idle & Home. Busy is far too cheap a word to depict the ever changing harmony of opportunities, responsibilities or whatever it is that makes the clean grid of a December calendar swell.

And whether your life right now is really challenging, really great or somewhere in between, everyone has the opportunity to connect."

If you want to read her whole entry, click here.  Her blog is wonderful.