Distraction

Today my thoughts are slow to arrive and coagulate.  Seems distraction descended about the time I got out of bed.

Dictionary.com offers the following definition for distraction.
     1.  the act of distracting
     2.  the state of being distracted
     3.  mental distress or derangement
     4.  that which distracts, divides the attention, or prevents concentration
     5.  that which amuses, entertains or diverts; amusement

Also listed were synonyms:  madness, lunacy, insanity, craziness. 

At my computer simultaneously staring at and feeling a LARGE whiteness, I review my morning seeking something to muse.

Alarm sounded from my new-fangled phone with a clock app.  I accidentally activate a flashlight when I pick it up.  Mind splits into three tasks – stand, stop alarm, stop blinding beam.  I wake two kids and make their breakfast while packing three lunches, assembling a quiche and talking about back muscles with my husband.  I kiss two kids out the door on my way upstairs to wake another sleepy head. 

Back downstairs while collecting crust crumbs I call the school for details regarding an athletic team try-out, check the weather, instruct regarding wardrobe for the day as it is twenty degrees cooler than yesterday and scramble an egg having forgotten to actually put the quiche in the oven.  While putting on my shoes and sweater, gathering my keys and replying to a text about today’s carpool, I decide quiche will be a nice lunch.  In the van, strapping my seatbelt, sipping tea (when did I make tea?) I start the engine and drive to school. 

I enjoy a phone chat, gather trash and an empty water bottle in the seven minutes it takes to return home.  Once inside I realize I forgot to take the quiche out of the oven.   It is, gratefully, slightly browner that I would have chosen but certainly not ruined.  I eat some quiche while getting my vitamins and clearing dishes into the sink.  It is now 8:30am.  I microwave my cooled tea and sit at my computer to check my email (which I have ignored for two days – yikes!), update online banking, print some necessary forms, and try to feel creative.  By 11:00am I have not been able to even decide what I am musing because my attention is so divided. 

I suspect I am not alone.  In households everywhere mornings look like this or even crazier.  The madness seems weaved into my culture.  I was happy to be reminded by the fifth entry for distraction of an option.  Distraction can also be a thing that amuses and brings joy - fishing or reading or resting or meditating, a warm cup of tea or perhaps a bit of poetry.      

          Mental Divide

        wonder what is
          the disturbance
          words, duties
          money and mail
          electronic rings
          debts, ads for things

          we need
          the time, the food
          find or cook or eat
          the mind
          will wander
          often scattered
 
          salt through sea

          tossed by waves
          churn, burn energy
          action and inaction
          deranged
          distraction.