At this year’s Torah Home Education conference in May, I spoke about the challenges of burnout, and the importance of taking time to recharge and renew yourself. I mentioned something I was planning to do just for me: to take an early morning walk with a friend and enjoy some bird watching by a local lake. This week, I finally did it!
We met at the lake at 7 am to accomodate me, the late riser. 😛 I was bleary eyed from being up repeatedly at night with ds2, who kept waking up, screaming for a while, then falling back asleep. I stuck him next to me in bed to make it easier for us all. I couldn’t fall back asleep each time as quickly as he did, and it seemed that every time I had finally fallen into a deep sleep, he’d wake up again. Be that as it was, he was exhausted enough that at 6:15 am, he didn’t wake when I disengaged myself from his little body, that was wrapped all over me, and was there by 7:02.
What fun this was! The friend I went with is someone I met at an aliyah meeting – she saw my name written on the sign up sheet and recognized it from Seattle. We ended up getting into a nice long shmooze, during which I encouraged her to make her move to Israel this summer rather than making it an indefinite goal for the future, and which culminated with her agreeing to join us for Shabbos lunch. At some point in our email communication I learned that she was an avid bird watcher, and asked her if she’d lead a group for our local homeschoolers.
Then I realized, I didn’t really want to go bird watching with lots of kids, when I’d be so busy watching my littles that I’d hardly have time to notice what birds were where. I wanted to do it myself! So that’s what we did.
When you’re familiar with the birds or plants you come across as you’re taking a walk, it totally changes the experience; you begin to see things that you would otherwise walk by- it’s a much fuller experience. We started off by seeing a pair of green herons, a first for my friend – she figured it out with her bird guide and it was exciting for her to see something she never had seen there before. Then she pointed out Canadian geese (one of the only birds I sawthat I already recognized), goldfinches, mockingbirds, red-winged blackbirds, and kingfishers.
As we walked along, I was able to see these birds frequently enough that I can now identify them on my own. We saw a red-tailed hawk, and it was especially interesting to watch it being harassed by a mockingbird. The mockingbird kept swooping in at it and pecking it – I suppose the hawk was too close to her nest – but the hawk just sat there, only occasionally slightly turning its head towards the little bird. I was kind of waiting for it to get so fed up it would snap at it, but it didn’t seem bothered enough. Very entertaining.
Then we saw mourning doves (I had recently seen a few of these in my backyard and wondered what they were – they look somewhat like small pigeons), orioles, cardinals, robins, and a northern grosbeak. I think that I would be able to identify all of these in the future without assistance, except for the kingfisher and green herons, which I could only see through binoculars.
I enjoyed myself so much that I’m thinking of doing this again sometime soon. The early morning is a beautiful time of day, with a freshness and energy that I really love, and even on hot summer days, it’s still pleasant that time of day.
How do you find ways to make time for yourself, to keep yourself from becoming depleted by the continuous requirements of motherhood and parenting?
Avivah
