Swinging the kettlebell nice and high, I notice a couple of dust bunnies on the floor, right next to my barbell.  Oh, how I despise them; I can hardly let them be.  So between sets, I pick them up and walk really fast to the garbage can to deposit them there.  Back on time for set #2, during which I notice that my weights are all messed up, not beautifully arranged like I like them to be.  So between sets, I quickly begin to rearrange them, but the time runs out and set #3 starts.  Oh, how I despise not getting stuff finished; I can hardly stand it.  As soon  as I can, I put my kettlebell down and finish organizing my weights.

All better now.

Back in the kitchen after my workout, I start to make soup for next week’s lunches, and my mind goes to the necessary grocery trip that is unavoidable, so I start to jot down some of the staples I need to get while the onions and celery are softening on the stove.

The phone rings and my dear friend, she tells me that she needs help. The onions are getting brown, almost to where they need to be but not quite, so I keep my eye on them while half-listening to my friend, and I remember that I cut up my last onion, so I add “onions” to my list. My friend is crying on the phone.

I am the queen of multitasking.

And I get so much done.

My friend is crying on the phone, and she tells me that the spat she had with her husband escalated and her heart is scattered and her mind can’t think straight and my onions are almost burning and I need to buy more milk.

And right then I realize that I will never ever have this moment again, and if I don’t do it right, it won’t bear the fruit it needs to bear.

My onions, they can burn, and the milk, it can wait. But my friend’s heart, it is a “Now” thing, it deserves all of me, not a divided me thinking about adding the potatoes to the onions and how the sale on yogurt is ending today and I should really go get some because I am almost out and I like to eat it for breakfast.

I turn the stove off, walk away from my list and go sit in the living room. My friend and I, we are together in the Now now, and I listen. I give myself to her. Because right this second is all we have, and we will never have it again, and we have to do it right.

Cultivating Thankfulness with Ann Voskamp

# 505 A not-too-cold winter day

# 506 A breakfast date with a girlfriend

# 507 The delight that comes from not yielding to gluttony

Sometimes, I link up with any or all of these wonderful writers: Hearts 4 Home, SDG,  Hearts Reflected, WLW, EOA, Things I can’t say, Growing Home, Play Dates with God, Monday Musings, Hear it on Sunday, Inspire Me Monday, Tell me a Story, The Better Mom, a Mama’s Story, Into the Word, In and Around Mondays,OYHT, Gratituesday, Titus2Tuesdays, Extraordinay, Lessons from Ivy, Denise in Bloom, Sweet Blessings, Faith Filled Friday, Finding Joy, WholeHearted Home