Life is Too Short to Stuff a Mushroom

Epiphany time. Are you ready? Here it is….

Life is too short to stuff a mushroom.

That little Zen gem was sent in by a reader named Kelly M. in response to a recent post of mine asking if you all had any ideas on getting the parenting/work balance right. And it has changed my life. Freed me. Caused me to show my inner-Martha the door.

Think about it, grasshopper, and you, too, will see that life really is a) too short, and b) better spent on a million other things than stuffing mushrooms – or folding your underwear just so. Arranging the spice cabinet alphabetically. Or color-coding your books.

Not that I’ve done those things. I’m…uh…just saying.

Right around the same time as I had my mushroom epiphany, this link popped up on an online mom’s group I belong to.

It features the author Katrina Kenison reading from her book, The Gift of an Ordinary Day. It’s a wonderful passage about how fast time goes by, how fast children grow up, and the things that really matter in life.

And guess what? Stuffing mushrooms ain’t one of them.

I still don’t have the balance right. I probably never will. I’ve still got junk piling up on my stairs and my desk. My dvds are overdue. I owe a zillion thank-you notes from the holidays. But here’s what’s changed – thanks to Kelly and Katrina, I’m not sweating it anymore. At least, not as much.

Instead, I’m now reading to my daughter at night without stealing desperate glances at the clock. Looking at the sunset as I walk the dog, instead of drafting emails in my head. Listening to the Moonlight Sonata without writing a To Do list at the same time.

I’ve stopped stuffing mushrooms. Once and for all. And, more importantly, I’ve stopped wanting to. Because what do I have to show for all the mushroom stuffing? Just a mushroom with stuff in it.

Happy reading!

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