After a full afternoon, the kids and I made a quick stop at Meijer. As we only had a few items, I opted for the self-scan check-out. As soon as we got there, each of the 3 kids wanted to scan an item. I gave them each an item. Elizabeth was having a hard time getting hers to scan, and Wil being tired and impatient, started chasing Katherine around with his loaf of bread he was to scan. The two ran around me as I tried to help Elizabeth. The young check-out person came over with a look of impatience on her face. Elizabeth finally got her item scanned but did not put it in the bag, so as Katherine is trying to scan hers it wouldn’t scan. I pressed the “I Don’t Want To Bag My Item” button on the monitor and thankfully Katherine’s item scanned. Wil scanned his loaf of bread, I quickly swiped my credit card and we were on our way.
Wil was well past his patient limit by this time so he was again antagonizing Katherine and she antagonized him right back. I give him my phone to listen to Spotify, and he chose “Fight Song.” We listen to “Fight Song” once, then twice, then I just lost count after that the whole way home.
When we finally arrived home, my mind was instantly abuzz of what I needed to do before Katherine and I headed out the door to taekwondo. I started dinner, got Wil busy with an activity, and both of the girls went off to do their own thing. Then, my phone rang. I decided to let it go to voicemail, but the ring added an element to my internal stress.
As I was browning the meat on the stove for tacos (a quick dinner all of the kids like), I heard piano music. The beautiful trill immediately relaxed my shoulders and my mind. I found instead of feeling rushed, I was enjoying making dinner. The tasks ahead of me unrolled in order of importance when just minutes before they were a jumble in my head. I looked to where the music was coming from and found Elizabeth on the living room couch with her tablet.
“What is that?” I asked her.
“Its just an app, you can get it, too.”
“Keep playing it while I make dinner, would you? Its so soothing.” She smiled and continued to play her piano game.
I was amazed at how the music changed my entire demeanor. Not only was I more relaxed, I was more efficient. Harmonic magic!
Sometimes, when so much is happening at once, I forget what can be taken care of now and what can be left for another day. I let it all get jumbled up together in my head. The urgent and the important all get mixed into one creating lots of stress for me. The music unwound the jumble in a beautifully simplistic way.
Last night, after taekwondo, we all unloaded on the couch. Matt was reading and the kids turned on an Ice Age movie. I was partially watching the movie with them and talking with Matt. I was relaxed, enjoying us all together, and even though my “to-do” list was far from my mind, I asked Elizabeth to play her piano game again. The music was no less soothing the second time around. As I laid on the couch with my kids and husband, I thought life is often best when we can get down to its simplest moments within the jumble our minds like to create. Where we can see those moments for what they are, feel them and hear them unrolling in front of us like a beautiful string of notes. 
WILingness 