I did something new today. OK. Not totally new.

I flipped over a queen and moved it on to the black king and remarked to my husband, “I don’t think I’ve played a game of solitaire since before I had kids.”

And so I sat in the strong sun, surrounded by mountain peaks and played a game of solitaire. Two games in fact. I sat while my kids played at the park and my legs still ached with soreness from the summit just two days before, and while the laundry sat undone and heaped in a pile.

In short, I did something entirely meaningless today. And it was beautiful.

We’ve been on the road for awhile now. Every summer, we take off extended time to just explore. It has become a time for us to recenter on the things we love as individuals and collectively as a family.

And we’ve noticed a few patterns as well. For example, it took me roughly two weeks to get the angst out, the pent up wanderlust and need for exploration. I thoroughly exhausted myself and enjoyed [almost] every minute of it. And now I can be still for a bit. And while all those active moments: summiting peaks with my kids, riding bikes and paddling on teal waters will be forever treasured memories – I will treasure my memory of playing solitare out back on the deck just as much.

Isn’t this hilarious?! Kai is ready for me to be done adventuring so he can take the raincoat (failed) off and do some meaningless napping for awhile.

I recently re-posted an old article about finding peace and learning to find stillness in the midst of this busy thing called parenthood.

I said,

That school schedule will get nailed down. The clothes will get cleaned and kids bathed. Meals will made and errands run. But one day my kids won’t giggle when I chase them. They won’t want to hold my hand on a hike or play trucks with me. One day they’ll have a “to do list” of their own. There is time. Time to stop rushing around.

And indeed there is time to stop rushing around. Indeed, now is the time to stop rushing around.

But it is harder than I would think. It seems that first we must set aside time to take a break from the things we have to do, and do the things we want to do. And then when our souls are fed on the laps of this great creation, we can find stillness and satisfaction and maybe even a little bit of that thing called peace.

Loving my Aventura Clothing on the road. Their new fall/winter items are coming every week at aventuraclothing.com

This is just one of the ways we find peace in parenthood. How do you do it?