Feeling Very Synergetic

The piles that laid around the house were evidence of the projects I started during Spring Break: stacks of clothes to give away or pack into storage boxes, copies of pictures used as handouts in drawing classes, paints and paintbrushes, a few garage sale “treasures”, baskets filled with laundry in progress, newspaper coupon sections stacked and in need of cutting and filing, wet snow pants and gloves from unexpected snow (and beach towels from the day before!), and baseball tournament coolers and chairs awaiting their return to the attic. Obviously, we had shared a lot of fun experiences as a family, but the stuff had to be dealt with.

My energy drained as my eyes panned back and forth across the room on the stacks of stuff. Where do I start? Then my eyes stopped and focused on a positive feature…who was sitting and watching television. Nine-year-old Micah. That’s it – Micah and I can tackle this thing together! He might like to earn some extra money and I would sure like the help! I saw a window of time before me — a little more than an hour, in fact — before everyone would gather back at home.

When I proposed this great idea to Micah, he didn’t show a lot of interest, even when I mentioned I was paying $1 for every 20 minutes of help. After persuading him to at least go the first 20 minute round with me, we began.

We set the timer and off we went – we started in the family room, sprinting from here to there to get things in their places. The timer rang and he said we should go another round. After the third 20-minute segment we took a break and got something to drink, but he said he wasn’t ready to stop yet. The last 30 minutes he handed up lawn chairs and coolers and other items that needed to go to the attic, and we finished by organizing and sweeping out the garage.

Done! We finished by lighting a fire in the fireplace and some candles in the kitchen. I handed Micah his $5 with a big hug and thank you, and we talked about how amazed we were with all that we got done in a short amount of time.  Not only was the house clean, but I realized that even as I had expended energy, I had gained it back. Then I realized I was not only energetic, I was synergetic.

Synergy (n.), synergetic (adj.) – The working together of two or more people…especially when the result is greater than the sum of their individual effects or capabilities.

I think I would like to add something else to this definition: synergetic – the lively, happy feeling moms get when others pitch in and help get things accomplished around the house, seeing amazing results.

Here’s to more synergetic days in our future as moms.