I know I am supposed to get Benjamin to change his sheets. They practice this at school. How else could they justify having a full sized bed with a floral duvet in a high school classroom? But there certainly is not time in the pre-bus scramble and by the time he gets home I am distracted with the twins and dishes and chickens and sewing
students and.... well everything. So his bed ripens.
But this morning my resolve took a drastic form. I wrote it down.
Change Ben's sheets
I would not undermine his Life Skills program by doing it for him but I would make it a prerequisite for his favorite afternoon snack. This will happen. Today.
Writing down what I intend to do, even if it is still a 20-80 ratio of
intention-procrastination, helps me follow through. Looking through my journal I can perform an annual review: how many times I prodded myself to clean the bathrooms, or take down the Christmas tree, or make that appointment with the endocrinologist.
John is not often on my list. This does not accurately reflect my values, but if I am honest with myself I admit that he gets short shrift. Part of the trouble is that many of the items I write do not have opinions to
deal with. Clothes, bowls, receptionists all submit to my ruthless will. But John is a human being, with his own agenda. It is not simply a matter of grit.
Connect with John for twenty minutes
Make John smile
Sit on the deck with him
Ask him the interesting questions we talked about in my small group
But I am going to write these down anyway. In permanent ink. I will let you know how many
repetitions it takes before I check them off.
