Appendicitis, so to speak

Tags

deepakchopra, healthy choices, iphone, morning joe, my daughter, pop culture, the fresh beat band, work/ life balance, working mother

Last week I saw a great segment on Morning Joe with Deepak Chopra, called “Unplugging Your Spiritual Side” in which Dr. Chopra said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “If you’re texting on your iPhone and talking to me you’re not really doing anything.”

Whoa.  Holy chakra-shock!

Maybe it’s just me but when Deepak Chopra espouses the virtue of single-tasking I stop and listen.  It seems so rational and manageable when he says it.  For a moment I contemplated the merits of programming an auto-reply for my email saying “Deepak Chopra says I should carve out one specific sphere in my life for email so I will respond to you when I arrive at that sphere,” and that all those who email me would agree.  (Especially Barack Obama and Joe Biden who have been emailing me A LOT these days.)

As I weighed the potential professional ramifications of such a practice I decided to try, I mean REALLY try, to be fully present for my child between the hours of 5:30pm and 8:30pm when I say good-night to her (ok fine, except for when she’s watching her 30 minutes of daily sanctioned tv, because really how many episodes of the Fresh Beat Band does a grown woman need to watch?  Also I have learned the whole routine to ‘Great Day’, time served!).  For the last week as soon as I enter her school for pick up I drop my phone in my bag and yes, leave it in there until her show starts (or it Marimba’s more than twice).

Once I set my intention, I found that my hyper-observant 3.75 year old needed nearly as much adjustment and reassurance as I did – as if some appendage to my body had been suddenly and inexplicably removed.  So far our practice has gone like this:

DAY 1
3.75 year old daughter: Mommy! Where is your phone?
Me: Um, well it’s in my bag.  Did you, um, want to make a call?
3.75 year old daughter: no, but don’t you need it?
Me: Why would I need it?
3.75 year old daughter: you always need it Mommy!

Day 2
3.75 year old daughter: Mommy! is your phone in your bag?
Me: Yes.
3.75 year old daughter: do you need it?
Me: Nope.
3.75 year old daughter: ok.

Day 3
3.75 year old daughter: Mommy! is your phone STILL in your bag?
Me: Yes.
3.75 year old daughter: do you need it?
Me: Nope.
3.75 year old daughter: Because you love me?
Me: Yep.

Day 4
3.75 year old daughter: Mommy your phone goes in your bag.
Me: Yes.
3.75 year old daughter: unless we want to take a picture.
Me:Yes.
3.75 year old daughter: Or if we have an em-er-gen-cee.
Me: Yes.
3.75 year old daughter: Because you love me!
Me: Yes.

Appendectomy complete.  Do they grow back?

love makes you do crazy things!