So, I know many of us are in look-ahead-back-to-school-prep mode, but what about if you actually need a RE-Together-ing of what has passed? I realize I use this term all the time in-real-life, but I haven’t written about it much on the blog. It’s time for some #togethertruth.
A RE-Together-ing? What is that, you may wonder? Well, let me paint a picture of my real life right now, and I think you will understand what I mean.
- 20 cardboard moving boxes in the basement from Dr. Together and I merging households in May
- At least 3 hampers of clean, but unfolded and not put away laundry (honestly, I need a laundry intervention. Dr. Together helped me last week by doing most of it for me!)
- 4 unpacked tubs of gear from our outdoorsy Maine vacation
- Upwards of 200 work emails + 100 personal emails + many texts that are unanswered (due to work travel four weeks in a row)
- 4 large trunks shipped back from sleepaway camp full of dirty, damp, smelly clothes (currently in the carport)
- Multiple pages of notes to process from teaching both online and / or in-person almost every single day in June / July / August.
Mostly, I’m pretty good at ignoring stuff like this – since I’m mostly about function over form, and I’m making it work, — until I’m not, and then . . . I declare a month of re-Together-ing myself. I notice this often happens in August (as summer winds down in the mid-Atlantic) and January (as holidays wind down. . . some of you saw my experiment with putting away December gear last year!).
I’m not going for perfection here, but I do need a little bit of progress for a few reasons:
- I am missing a key piece of my stand-up paddleboard inflation system. It is in one of those outdoor gear tubs.
- The kids need some clean clothes to wear, and I’m too frugal to buy new ones. Unpacking is my least favorite Together Task on this planet. It combines laundry and putting stuff away. But sometimes it just truly needs to be done.
- We need to be able to walk in the basement again. Two of the four kids live in our basement “dorm” situation, and the boxes are literally up to the ceiling.
So, what is my approach to RE-Together-ing this August?! I’m going to list it to hold myself gently accountable.
- Block time on the calendar to tackle some of the bigger ones. Flight to New Orleans. . . Myself and a Coke Zero are going all in on that email inbox(es).
- Recruit a helper(s). Dr. Together and I are paying the herd of kids in small change to tackle some of the basement boxes. They are remarkably good at unpacking books, less so on kitchen utensils!
- Break the tasks into smaller parts. I don’t have a full day to offer to any of this, but I can definitely find 30 minutes in a day. One laundry hamper at a time. One set of teaching notes at a time.
How about you? Please tell me I’m not the only one RE-Together-ing right now?
