A few months ago, when Gentry was trying to tell me something, and I was engaged on my iphone, she commented, "I liked it better when you had a blackberry." It was basically her way of saying I was spending too much time with my apps and not enough time with her. Ouch.
Even as adult, I sometimes have to give myself a timeout from technology. I've made an especially concerted effort on this vacation (even trying to blog less). I've also tried to "park" my phone, leaving it for hours at a time with out even a glance. To be honest, at first it was hard. And then, after a few days, I realized that the world would keep spinning, even if I hadn't checked my email or instagram in the last hour. It's been quite a beautiful thing really. As we wind up our vacation, I'm committing to re-enter real life with some ongoing boundaries.
I've developed a mantra with my kids regarding their social media and texting. "Be present". When you're with real, live people, give them your energy, you attention, and your eyeballs. As for this mom, I am committing to more "eyeball" time myself. Sadie will be leaving for the MTC in seventy-one short days and already my heart is starting to hurt. When my kids were younger, I was always ready for school to start again, craving a schedule and order. Now, August will be here much too soon.
So, tonight we ventured out for a little crab hunt, and I tried to take a deep breath, and live and love every moment.
And I did.
1 comment:
Great post. It's a constant battle!
-Andrew
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