Snow Days (Jill)

During this winter, we’ve had a few snow days. The kids rejoice, and I immediately start mentally rearranging my day. You’d think snow days would give me the opportunity to get lots of writing done. But that’s not the case. Between monitoring social media time, the kids' anime pop music that disturbs my train of thought, and making sure we stay on a schedule, there’s precious little time to sink into a character’s skin or edit my way to a better scene. So it’s a constant struggle when the kids are home.

When we first moved here, we used one of the rooms as an office, but that was converted into a bedroom when our second child came along. Now my “office” is only a corner of the dining room, next to the big window. This area provides little to no seclusion from domestic distractions. In the summer, the aroma of fresh-cut grass from our neighbors’ lawn-mowing efforts drifts in. In the fall, birds play at the bird feeder and the trees change color. But in the winter, this corner becomes a drafty cell. This year as a Christmas present to myself, I invested in some fuzzy, fingerless gloves, so I don’t lose my hands to frostbite. Not sexy, but they do the job. 

My complaint probably makes it sound like I hate people or at least hate the people in my family. This isn’t true. I just don’t have the ability to filter out the unnecessary noise and focus on my work. So when there’s a snow day, I do my best to put my writing projects on hold.

Although the distractions are, well, distracting, I’ve learned this is where God needs me, doing what He wants me to do. It also helps to remember my kids won’t be home forever. They need a mom, now. When they’re gone and on their own, hopefully they’ll still need me, but not in the same way. A brief phone call or text message may be enough. And I’ll probably wish they were here to play annoying anime music to distract me.

So for now, I’ll use the snow days to enjoy my kids’ company, anime music and all.