Go Ask Mom

Kathryn Brown: Back to a routine ... finally

We've had a fun run the last few months, but, as I stare down the calendar at a long line of work days, school days, and regular old laundry days, I am pretty psyched.

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Kathryn Brown, WRAL anchor/reporter, with one of her daughters
By
Kathryn Brown
, WRAL anchor/reporter

Routine.

Some of us are more attached to it than others (guilty), but we all have some type of routine. In our house lately, our “routine” has sort of followed the motto, “The only constant is change.”

Starting in November, our worlds went topsy-turvy and haven’t settled since. If we haven’t been out of town, we’ve been packing - or unpacking - from a trip. My work schedule changed drastically in December, requiring a major upheaval in the schedules we had carved out over the years. A good change – but still, a big change.

We celebrated Hanukkah, then Christmas, then the New Year. My mother-in-law had major surgery. I went to Korea for a month. My husband had work trips to Phoenix, Tucson, Fort Lauderdale, Nashville, New Orleans and Memphis.

In between those, we trekked to hockey tournaments, we planned a double-birthday-party for my three-year-old twins and we ventured to Atlanta for a few days for a family reunion. Throw in a case of the flu – just for fun – and, suffice it to say, our lives have been pretty crazy.

We recently returned from our most recent trip, quickly unpacked, settled back home, got my son ready for school and prepped for a busy work week. Driving to the gym this morning, I had a glorious revelation: We have nothing planned. NO vacations in the foreseeable future; NO trips; NO scheduled days off work.

My son is tracked in, everyone is (for the moment) healthy, the house is (pretty) clean, the laundry is (mostly) folded, the pantry is (messy, but) full, the sheets are clean (I don’t budge on this one).

Life may be settling into a routine.

There is a lot to be said about vacations and breaks from work or school. We all need them – to zone out, to catch our breath, to rejuvenate our soul, to spend time with our families. But too much of it – well, the old cliché, “I need a vacation from my vacation,” rings true!

We’ve had a fun run the last few months, but, as I stare down the calendar at a long line of work days, school days, and regular old laundry days, I am pretty psyched.

Kathryn Brown, WRAL anchor/reporter, is a mom of three. She writes monthly for Go Ask Mom. You can find her all of the time on her Facebook page.

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