5 Minutes' Peace - Making Lemonade

Among the books I received this Christmas was this gem from my mom, Five Minutes Peace. It arrived just as I was getting ready to pull my hair out after 10 days with no school and cleaning the house three times each day only to have The Wrecking Crew destroy all that hard work in mere seconds.

Not that I’m complaining. But, okay, for one minute I’m complaining.

Anyways, when this book arrived Noodle immediately begged me to read it to her. We both giggled at Mrs. Large (ahem) and her three kids who were constantly vying for attention.

Mrs. Large wanted to take a bath, drink her tea, and read her newspaper for just 5 minutes. Of course, her kiddos had other plans.

After we read the book, I made myself some tea and told Noodle I needed 5 Minutes’ Peace.

She wanted me to read the book again.

She wanted to taste my tea.

She wanted to finger paint, sit on my lap, and eat a cookie– preferably at the same time.

Life imitating art at it’s finest.

Five Minutes’ Peace is pretty impossible to find while my kids are awake. I’m not nearly as brave as Mrs. Large, my 5 minutes comes after the kids go to bed. That’s when I fill my tub with hot water and lavender bath salts, and climb in with a book and some Sleepy Time Tea. Or wine, depending on my mood. 😉 After thinking about it, I realized I rarely carved out any time during the day for myself. Those few instances when I do look this this:

Last year, I grabbed a free pocket-sized daily devotional book from the lobby of the church. I’d read it in the car for a few minutes before I picked up Noodle while Bee slept in the backseat. That’s 5 minutes found, and lost, now that our schedule has changed.

Showering isn’t easy with little ones around, there’s always a face peeking in asking how much longer until I’m out. But every once in awhile I’ll get my 5 minutes peace as the hot water washes over me and melts my stress away. I do my best thinking in the shower, does anyone else feel the same way? And then that face appears, asking ‘what are those?’ and telling me Bee is stuck in the hamper again. Sigh.

My husband takes the kids upstairs for their nightly bath, and for a few blissful moments I ignore the pounding of running feet, riotous noise of slamming doors, and insane giggling while I lay on the couch with a heating pad and stare at the t.v.– on a show other than Doc McStuffins. Then I hear the inevitable ‘thump’ as a child falls down/ runs into each other/ closes a door on their fingers and I know my 5 minutes peace has come to an abrupt end.

Running has always been a source of peace for me. The gym is, unfortunately, where I’ve done the majority of it due to the cold temps and free babysitting. But once in awhile when the planets align and someone can watch the kids and the temps aren’t freezing or hot-as-the-sun, I get a chance to run outside… just me, myself, and 45 minutes of peace. And some Jay-Z, because c’mon, what’s a run without some Jiggaman?

Noodle found her 5 minutes’ peace. Santa brought a kids yoga DVD that she adores, and now she begs us to join her yoga-cizing every night. “Family yoga time!” she calls. That girl, I swear. She could convince a tree to take a walk with her just by batting those baby blues.

We live a blessed life. A crazy, chaotic, exhausting but totally-worth-it life. I don’t take our little miracles for granted for one minute. Okay. Maybe I take them for granted for 5 minutes, but then it’s back to immersing myself in their endless energy and love.

I don’t get much alone time during the day, as you can see. But it got me thinking: how do other moms find 5 minutes peace? Have you carved out time during the day just to think, or drink tea, or read? Does your 5 minutes come at night? How and where, and in what, do you find your peace?

Share in the comments so we can live vicariously through you, and be inspired with other ways to find 5 minutes peace!

PS- a few people asked when I mentioned it on Twitter– you can find Five Minutes Peace (the book, unfortunately not actually 5 minutes of peace) on Amazon. It would make a great gift for moms, possibly with a side of bubble bath and tea. 😉