I was barely unpacked

I have been finding it hard to blog lately.  I could blame it on time.  I started my class, four kids to take care of, housework, homework, etc.  I could blame it on being tired.  Seems like most days it is a sprint from 7am (or earlier) to 9pm (or later).  I wasn't able to put my finger on a reason why something that was coming so easy, now was so difficult.  Then my brilliant wife said 5 words that helped shed some light on a possible reason why.  "The honeymoon has worn off".

When I first began as a stay at home dad everything was fresh and exciting.  I was seeing the kids through newly opened eyes.  Spending all day with them brought me so much time for me to observe and explore their individual personalities.  But the newness wore off and everyday life settled in, and somewhere along the way, I have forgotten to pay attention.

The "honeymoon" wearing off is a quite common occurrence for any new situation.  It happens with new jobs, new houses and new relationships to name a few.  This phenomenon gives me pause though.  Why can't we just be content?  Why does the newness and wonder wear off?

Have you ever met someone in their 40's, 50's or older who is working on their 3rd degree, masters, Phd?  They have spent their life learning.  They are constantly educating themselves in new fields, experiencing new insights and points of view.  A lot of us look at those types of people as a bit crazy; we were just happy to make it through our schooling unscathed and with bright job prospects on the horizon.  But I think they just may be on to something.  Maybe learning, keeping your mind active, gaining knowledge is the secret to remaining youthful.  Look into the eyes of a child when they are encountering something new.  You see wonderment, intrigue, excitement, fear, questions, wanting, and on and on.  New experiences for a child requires all the senses.  They want to see, hear, touch, smell and sometimes unfortunately, taste every new adventure.  So maybe the secret to remaining youthful is act as if you are youthful (flying in the face of the old adage, "act your age")

There is a line from a song, "the more I see, the less I know."  There is so much to see and learn in the world.  We have all only just scratched the surface.  There is so much we can see and learn from books, experiences, traveling and interacting with the people right around us.  Life can be tiring and stressful.  We all have our reasons why we end up wading in the mundane.  But we need to pay attention, to experience the joys that are all around us.

I am in the process of retraining myself to do this.  I am going to start theme days for my blog to re-energize myself and force me to pay more attention. I have not come up with themes for all of the days, but I do have a few.  I have Wordless Wednesday (which a lot of bloggers use), a day when you use pictures to tell a story (or more accurately, a picture that prompts the reader to derive their own story).  Sound-off Sunday will give the readers a window into the soundtrack of my life (I have one that I will post later).  Twin Tuesday will be stories past and present that show the trials, tribulations and triumphs involved with raising twins.  The last that I have assigned will be Meandering Monday, which is somewhat a revival of my first blog attempt ramblingsofacommonman.blogspot.com where I write about current events, everyday occurrences, random thoughts, etc.

I will entertain other suggestions on theme days.  Any suggestion must include a corny name like the ones I have come up with above.

Just a note:  When I write things like this, they are not written into the direction of anyone but me.  I use the term "we" for literary purposes.