Eating Breakfast

I eat breakfast every day now, sitting at the dining room table, taking my time. We're all in the house together in the morning, except farm days, when Mark leaves before sunrise. We talk and plan our days. It's a lovely way to start the day and I can't imagine why it's been, literally, years since I've sat down to breakfast. (Oh no, wait, I can remember. School. Bells. Special ed paperwork. Parent phone calls. Commute. Chronic sleep deprivation.)

 Zen Habits started the post with this quote today:

‘In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.’~Henry David Thoreau

 I'm on a mission to rid myself of the notion that I have to do things I don't want to do. That any of us have to do things we don't want to do. I ask myself the question, if I could do anything I want today, this afternoon, in this very moment...what would it be? Sometimes it's taking a nap. Sometimes it's writing articles for my website (to be launched soon! I can't wait!). Sometimes it's taking an impossibly slow walk with Laurel in the park, or watching tv with M.

I used to think I had to be a math teacher because there are no reading specialist jobs. But now, instead of haunting vacancy postings, I'm creating a space for me to work as a reading specialist. It's an incredibly powerful feeling, but I can see that I will only be successful at this if I strip away the distractions, simplify my needs and streamline my message. And as I work on those things, the universe does appear to be less complex....like a sky clearing after an overcast day.

Breakfast, however, will remain a priority.