Friday began with a cry from upstairs, “Mommeeeeeeee!!!”. I ran up to find a little guy who thought his throat hurt… it was actually his stomach. A day of the stomach bug ensued. A long, calendar-ditching, laundry loading day of tummy troubles. So much for getting anything done.

He was so sweet. All he wanted was me next to him. So I sat by him on the couch. I lay by him on the bed…and I watched. I watched him. Then we watched t.v. … when he had the energy. Up happened to be showing on the Disney Channel.

The quirky movie takes us into the adventures of an two characters on the opposite end of life. One, the younger of the unlikely pair, is trying to achieve significance through his Wilderness Guide accomplishments. Maybe if he can get just one more patch, he will make his dad proud. The other, an elderly gentleman, is literally floating to his last hurrah in a balloon-adorned house in order to fulfill his late wife’s lifelong dream.

The pair bumbles along the wild ride. Adventure is an understatement. In the midst of being chased by dogs as they race to save their friend Kevin, a rare bird, Russell utters a powerful statement while describing the Wilderness Guide meetings. Chatty little Russell is talking away when he starts recounting his favorite memories. After attending the meetings, his dad would take him to Fenton’s to get an ice cream. But it wasn’t the sweet dessert that captured his heart. No. It was sitting on the curb with his dad. Russell would play a game with his now absent father to spot colored cars. His comment about the game packs a punch that I/we could spend a few minutes considering:

“That might sound boring, but I think the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most.”

Hmmmm… Might I let that sink in for a moment. “… the boring stuff is the stuff I remember the most.” Is that not so true?!

What “boring” am I racing to avoid?

What boring will my kids remember?

What boring will fill my kids’ tanks?

What boring have I replaced with busy?

The fact of the matter – being a mom is busy work, especially with five kids at various ages. That said, our busy schedules desperately need to take a back seat to boring. It is in the boring that memories are made.

Just yesterday we drove by the zoo. I listened in to the conversation floating my way from the back seat.

“Look! There’s the zoo!!” (There’s a ginormous iron giraffe anchoring the entrance.)

“I love the zoo.” teen sister replies. (When they were younger, we frequented the zoo. Their older brother lived to trade rocks and stuff at the Nature Exchange. In our family, it’s one for all and all for one. So, we all had to endure the many trips and his slow, methodical, sometimes mind-numbing efforts to decide what to trade. Many sibling “this is so boring”s were uttered.)

“Yeah, remember when we always had to go to the trading place and wait for TTO to look through every bug, rock, feather…”

“Shell, leaf! Yeah. … That was great.”

(huh?!)

“I miss those days.”

(sigh…So do I.)

I don’t want to miss out on the boring stuff. Here’s to removing excess, keeping only essentials, and clearing calendars to make way for boring and loads of treasured memories. Because we all know how quickly things change and time flies.

Thanks for walking the (hopefully boring) road with me.

-Kay