Returning...

If only it were this easy!

No time. Not enough time.

Too many priorities.

What's the top priority?

In my world, it's FAMILY -- it always has been.

I'll drop everything if something affects my family, even if it's a

very large check I was supposed to deposit.

When family issues are back to normal,

then I can return to addressing other priorities.

Returning to other priorities is not quite as easy as pressing the return key on my computer. It involves reorganization not only of my to-do list(s!), but also of my mindset. Thanks to myriad vacations- visits-holidays-illness-crises, my mindset has been muddled for months. It could be easier to unmuddle it if I had a routine, as I did when I was engaged in a regular occupation. That ended more than six years ago when I "retired" so I could spend time with my expanding family.

I kept returning to work, though not full-time, until the pandemic called me to MORE than full-time. When that all came to a close, I missed my colleagues (one of my high priorities), so returned periodically to work with them. I missed working with people in my community (another priority), so returned to my plan to volunteer at the county library and ultimately became a Library Board member, which created another priority. I engaged with a friend/colleague to actively pursue the establishment of a foundation to support an exceptional public health system in our community (definitely a high priority). I engaged with the local chapter of an international organization that supports women and girls in our community (yet another priority). I started to volunteer with another organization that collects and distributes clothing and necessities to people in need across various communities -- oops... wake-up call!!!

I did all of this in between my active commitment with my family, my top priority. Over the past 6+ years, that commitment has included the births of and interaction with five grandchildren, three major surgeries, three major illnesses, the passing of my 95-y.o. father-in-law, and helping to move my 94-y.o. mother into an apartment from the home she lived in for more than 50 years. Most recently, my mind, heart, and activity have been focused on my son, his wife, and their two young boys who lost their first owned home to LA's fires just 19 days after they closed on their bank mortgage, moved all of their belongings, and finally moved the whole family into the house just after Christmas. Thank God they are settled in a temporary home!

I'm returning... no -- I'm trying to return... to non-family priorities.