I believe in a balanced life even when the scarves I have been juggling are all over the floor and people are inadvertently tromping on them. Keeping them up in the air takes effort but watching them float around, each in its place, is mesmerizing and so beautiful. It matters little whether one thinks of the scarves as Mr. Philately, Kat, and Day-Hay or work, community service, and time for one�s self. But some days, like today, I have to keep reminding myself just how lovely it is when it works. Some days, like today, I have to remind myself that it works most of the time.

Today I am posting late. Writing an entry was the scarf that fell to the ground. Kat�s need for the computer to finalize her science fair display was the right boot that trampled on writing. Her need for my help with Word Perfect and graphics and all the rest was the left boot. Just for good measure, the participation of Day-Hay and Mr. Philately at religious services this morning, which made attendance mandatory, was the accidental fall on top that caused the scarf to skitter away and necessitated searching hard for a minute or two to write.

In other words, Kat�s search for balance plays a role in causing me to teeter. Kat is trying to produce a science fair display at the high academic level her pushy, tracked high school demands of her while beautifying herself for the Sadie Hawkins dance tonight so that she will have time for a long rehearsal tomorrow of the play she is working stage crew for. She seems a bit crazed but does not want to drop anything. Like mother, like daughter I guess.

Still, I look around and realize that it won�t be long before she will be out of the house and her sister will follow not long after that. Finding balance likely will be a bit easier when family does not take nearly as much and as sustained a time. But who wants to juggle fewer scarves? What challenge lies in that? With fewer scarves, there�s less beauty.

So I�ll juggle now while it�s still challenging and remind myself that, most days, I have fun�and I�ll just keep reciting, �Keep them all in the air. Keep them all in the air.�

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