Priorities

The Friday before last, on my way into work, I was pondering the happenings of my morning before I left for work and felt a huge sense of guilt for most of the day.

It was a Friday that Todd had off of work and I had to go into work.  We woke up at the same time to an adorable dog giving us love and affection and making us laugh.  We got up and got to work de-cluttering our kitchen cabinets that have been accumulating stuff for the past 6 years we’ve owned the house (yes, we are morning people: if it didn’t get done in the morning, it wasn’t getting done!).  I got online for about 10 minutes and then rushed into the shower while Todd made breakfast.  We ate breakfast together, I cleaned kitty litter boxes, checked on mealworms, dried my hair, got dressed and was running around like a mad woman because I had to get out the door to “beat the bus.”  (Side note: If I don’t get out the door at a certain time, it lengthens my commute by 10 minutes because apparently middle-school kids in our town are not able to walk 2 driveways down to get on the bus. *snide remark*) As I was running around, hubby started to get playful.  As he pushed me onto the bed and was giving me kisses, I made the remark, “I don’t have time right now.”  He let me go, I got up and ran around for another minute, gave him a kiss, told him I loved him and ran out the door. 

As I was sitting behind the school bus this particular morning (damn karma), I began to realize how out of whack my priorities were are.  I made time for everything else that morning except my husband!

I began to think about what my priorities really are and I came up with this list (in order of importance).

 

God

I don’t write a lot about my faith on this site, but I have faith and I believe that it should be the top priority.  If you were to see what day I am on in my reading of The One Year Bible, you would be able to see that God has not been placed first and foremost in my daily life. This is no one’s fault but my own.

Husband

The next priority in my life should be my husband.  It is no secret that my husband and I have had our ups and downs over the past 7 ½ years we’ve been together and this very well may be because I have not put him high enough on my priority list.

Family

Our families are very important to us and I feel like we have done a pretty good job of prioritizing our families in our lives.  Yes, I would like to spend more time with my mom, my father and my nieces, but again, this is my fault for not making time on those weekends that Todd works to go and visit them.

Animals

I would be lying if I said  I put Todd over our animals in the past.  It has been a sore topic in our relationship from the very beginning.  When our pot bellied pig, Squiggy, was alive, I would tend to spend more time with him than I did with my own husband.  It sounds awful, and it really was, but that pig was not just an animal to me: He was my baby boy.  I realize now how unhealthy the relationship I had with our pot bellied pig was.  Even now, 2 years after his passing, I miss him so much.

Everything Else

Everything else includes everything that I consider as “me time” and cleanup around the house.  Really, are they are priority?  No.  Nothing is pressing enough that it cant wait.

Lesson to be Learned

I need to keep this list in my mind at all times.  So much of the scenario above could have been avoided by giving up that 10 minutes of computer time and allowing the animals to walk by without me having to pick them up, give them a kiss, and tell them how adorable they are.  I’m not sure if you noticed, but after writing out the whole scene, I realized how truly selfish I am.  I would like to turn that around to become more selfless.

I will be the first to admit that many times, my priorities are all out of order.  But the only one who can fix that is me.