The day that many stay-at-home parents long for has arrived — my youngest child has started school. And while Kindergarten in Alberta is only half a day, I have half a day all to myself, Monday to Friday, to… do… what. Or, more accurately, what first?
Tidy, laundry, groceries, errands, organize, meditate, hibernate?
Pitch those features, polish that short story, finish the fourth attempt at a solid first draft of my manuscript?
Walk the puppy? Cuddle the cat? Spend quality time with our 12-year-old dog whose slip into senility has been hard to ignore?
Retail therapy? (Better not.)
Exercise? (Probably should.)
Coffee? (Start here.)
Despite imagining this moment for months, even years, its arrival has been surprisingly anti-climatic. Maybe that means I’m ready to manage my time, maybe that means it hasn’t quite hit me yet. Either way, the kids are at school, husband’s at work, and my growing to-do list remains relatively unchanged (and largely unchecked.)
Life. Moves. Forward. So, without much choice, will I.
HEAVE A SIGH 