Be the buffalo

My son tells me to "be the buffalo" in his energetic and hopeful 22-month old voice. "Mama, be the buffalo! Be the buffalo!", he screams in delight, again and again.

"Be the buffalo" is a term I taught him after reading an article in Oprah. Apparently when buffalo sense a storm coming, instead of running the other way - in an effort to escape the impending weather - they run right toward it. By facing their fears and going right through it, they get to the other side - faster and having used less energy than if they tried to circumvent the inevitable.

This phrase has become my mantra throughout the last six weeks. "Be the buffalo" I'd repeat to my little boy while performing a super-over the top version of Tina Fey, doing Sarah Palin, equip with the wink and the twinkle. He loved it and so did I. The perfect dinner-time banter between a mother and son. He'd laugh, which would make me laugh, which would remind me to laugh more. It also reminded me to think about what I needed to run through after he goes to bed and after I have washed the dishes. What tasks/projects/conversations/decisions have I been putting off?

Procrastination is not something that has even been much of an issue for me. During school I never waited for the last minute to write papers or study. I always buy and send birthday cards, Congratulations cards, Just Because cards right on time. Clutter has also never plagued me, in fact, it freaks me out and is something that I avoid on a regular basis. But even we, borderline OCD-quality house-keeping fanatics, have some domestic projects we put off - in lieu of others that are more pertinent or desirable, like cleaning the toilet. Really. Cleaning the toilet or bathroom, which is something I do several times a week, and is significantly more enjoyable to me than cleaning my bedroom or even worse .... my closet.

While being the buffalo, I have purged, cleaned, and organized my drawers, my closets, separating clothing by color (as well as a color-blind woman can) and function. Next I tackled kitchen junk drawers. Then on to the Cd's that needed to re-filed (alphabetical and by genre - what am I an animal?) and the pile of documents that needed to be shredded. Not all of the looming tasks were related to clutter though, some involved starting or completing tasks or projects that have been put off for way too long, like beginning the process of re-applying for Irish citizenship and starting a blog.

So, here I am at 9:13pm having just checked one more off that ever evolving To-Do list after 11 hours of work outside the home and what is next for this animal impersonator? No more buffalo being for me tonight. No more purging or writing. Reading, maybe. TV watching, possibly. Sleeping certainly.