To Be a Superhero

A couple weeks ago, someone quipped, "You're like a superhero! You just do it all!"

No, I'm not, and no, I don't. Far from it.

When Randy and I first got married and lived in H'burg, we NEVER ate out. I mean, seriously. We ate out maybe TWICE in our first year of marriage. I cooked from scratch every single night; Sunday was always homemade pizza night. I cleaned our tiny apartment at least once per week (vacuumed, mopped, scrubbed the bathroom, dusted, etc.). I had a "laundry day" (mostly because I had to go to the laundromat) and always made sure laundry was folded and put away promptly.

Then we moved, and he started school, and I started teaching for real. And coaching. And playing volleyball two-three nights a week. And hanging out with my friends every weekend. And now, I'm in grad school. And teaching is harder and more time consuming than ever. And I'm coaching five nights a week.

And somewhere along the way, homemade soup gave way to Campbell's, and homemade pizza became frozen pizza, and it became acceptable to eat yogurt and cereal for dinner.

And instead of laundry being done once a week and completely folded and put away, I now frequently pick out outfits from clothes draped over the drying rack or sitting in the dryer. Just last week, I rummaged through a few laundry baskets to find a pair of clean underwear.

Despite all of this, my sweet husband still tells me I'm the best wife ever.

But last December, I realized life was going in a direction I didn't like. I don't want to have a reputation as a workaholic who is busy, busy, busy all the time, and frankly, I didn't want to give that label to myself, either.

That doesn't make me happy anymore. It doesn't bring me joy or peace. 

Life is short, and we only get one chance. To me, that used to mean "cram in everything while you can."
Now it means "don't waste time on the small stuff; pick and choose what's really important."

Choose what brings true joy. Choose what brings peace.
Choose family and fellowship. Choose God.

I know this is not what American society tells us to do. Society dictates that we work ourselves until we are exhausted, and then we bring home work and work some more. We do, do, do and go, go, go.

I think the real superheroes are those who defy these expectations and live simple, quiet lives.
I want someone to say, someday, "You're a superhero! You stopped doing it all and now do only what's important! You take time to go on walks with your husband and write songs on your grandmother's piano. You take time to volunteer in your church's soup kitchen and visit the old folks' home. You spread JOY to others!"

THAT is the kind of superhero I aspire to be. I don't want to DO more. I want to BE more.