Blur

The first chapter of my high school psychology textbook from my senior year at Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox has a list of ten characteristics of a mentally healthy person.

I remember sitting in my parents' basement in the early summer of 1980, re-reading them and making all ten my goal.

Now I only remember one of the ten - and that's because I could scarcely envision what that particular precept meant, for I had never experienced it. And that was the ability to lose oneself so completely in an activity that you lose track of all time. Here I was, not quite nineteen years old and had no idea what that meant.

I'm not sure when, how, or why that changed. It could be that, once I grew physically healthier (I was chronically sick for all of my childhood and into my young adult years), I could finally concentrate on a task without the distraction of feeling unwell.

Or perhaps my focus switched in early adulthood because I loved homemaking, raising children, and home-schooling so much. 

That sense of losing track of time happens to me quite often at work - and even more so on the weekends I work on fiction.

At work, of course, I'm often responding to emails, texts, calls and am very cognizant of deadlines. But when deadlines are met, and I can pour myself into a project, time just rushes past - until the next ding, buzz, or ring.

Yesterday morning I awakened early and posted my Bible verse, coffee greeting, and blog on social media. And then I leaped right into editing "House on Top of the Hill," promising myself I would get outside for a walk in the sunshine.

I made it outside at 6:10 p.m., just as the sun was going down, and the wind was picking up. It was an exhilarating walk, so no complaints. And then I jumped back into a chapter. When I looked up, it was almost 9 p.m. and I was now way behind on life "stuff" I still needed to get done that day.

But how did the hours blur past that fast?

How did an entire day last for just an hour? Because Sunday felt as if only one hour had passed.

Seriously.

Happy Monday!