Back to school....YOGA FAIL!!!

So, my kids back to school today.  I love back to school!  I especially love getting up and making breakfast and packing lunch.  It may be the control freak that hides inside of me, but I love that I know what they are eating healthy that day.  As I pack, I imagine myself in a "healthy packed lunch" competition on a world scale and I intend to win.

I'm not a total freak.  It's a recognizable lunch.  All organic, whole and local as it gets.  Whole wheat breads, butters and jams....fresh fruit and yogurt....a "special" treat of a specially crafted cookie or cracker.  It's the kind of lunch that would surely win the award.  I send them off to school proud and fantasize about how envious all the other kids must be.  Surely, they must think my kids more special and more loved with a packed lunch like that.

I eagerly await for my kids to return home.  My son is first and loved his lunch.  The cookie was "pretty good."  This satisfies me.  I feel smug.  Driving my daughter to volleyball practice, I inquire as to how happy her lunch made her.  She makes a disgusted face and explains that so and so got chips and so and so got Doritos and every other kid eats white bread with real meat sandwiches.  We argue.  I tell her about chemicals, obesity, heart disease, cancer and the deplorable state of the farming industry.  I explain the rules of parenting and how it's my job to make her the healthiest human possible.  I explain that kids in Africa are starving.  She rolls her eyes and agrees to eat just the fruit and sandwich next time.  I'm not to bother with the other stuff.

I head to the grocery determined to please her.  It's a competition after all.  Walking through the lanes, however, I begin to seethe.  I mean, I'm really pissed.  I grab some chips and put them back.  I grab some chocolate this and that and put it back.  I look at the turkey lunch meat and put it back.  I read the label on the white bread and put it back.  I get even more mad. 

Oddly, I'm not mad at her.  I'm mad at all the other parents who are packing white bread, chips, cookies, and soda.  How can I compete with that?  They are cheating at this game of mine.  It's not fair.  How am I supposed to raise kids that are healthy and holistic when they are surrounded by crud?  I know everyone is busy.  I know it's hard to feed and please a kid.  I know healthy cooking requires time, planning, and can be a frustrating.  I know.  Can't you help me out a little though? 

perfection

I had the perfect weekend with my kids. I guess I could give credit to the fact that it was our last weekend before school starts, but it was much more than that. We had the usual things to do to prepare for school. We went to the junior high and tried out the new locker and found our classes. We tried to figure out the bus schedule. We bought clothes and school supplies. It was busy.

Many years, this has resulted in frustration as you run from place to place. There is always something on the supply list that you can't find. This year it was clear plastic pocket folders. We went to Staples, Office Max, Biggs, Krogers and Costco. We went to Justice and Journeys and Dicks. We ran and ran. We had fun. We had so much fun.

Having fun is a gift you shouldn't question, but I had to wonder why this weekend was so great. What I realized is that my two children and I shared the same goals this weekend. We had the same intentions and desires. We wanted each other to be happy and we were very present with each other's needs. Staples was too girly for my 12 year old son. My 9 year old daughter loved it. Office Max was a hit with both and Costco met our needs for "freebies" when we were starving. There was a perfect ebb and flow and I can only contribute it to this perfect union of little souls all traveling on the same path for a weekend. It was effortless.

We are meant to live in this effortless and fun state even as we run crazy through Target. If you understand that it truly is all about the other person (serving humanity), then it is amazing how your own needs get effortlessly met. Everyday, ask the Universe "how can I help? how can I serve?" It will change your busy weekends.



Namaste