The summer that life appeared to stand still

It's funny how the longer circumstances linger, the more God will change our perspective if only we allow him to. This particular blog is one I've been mulling over pretty consistently for a couple of weeks. Now, I understand why. At first I thought the title "The summer that life stood still" would be what I'd go with but now that I'm actually writing it, my entire perspective has changed.
As you may know, my family compounds. There's the mom & dad compound in Willis with Jeff, grandma, & my family. We all live on conjoining properties - thank you Venezuelan family who moved at the exact time Brian & I were looking for a house! (Side note - The news today is that the one hold out family between us is looking to sell their house - yes, my wheels are turning! Lol.) Then there is the Conroe compound with my brother & sister (in law), her sister & family and their parents. They don't have conjoining properties but a couple of streets over still counts in my mind.
Compounding lends to a different kind of life. As my cousins can attest (they compounded with our grandparents growing up), there is a freedom that you don't understand unless you've been there & lived it. It goes far beyond "community" to truly living life together. All of it. The ups AND the downs.
Borrowing a cup of sugar or roll of toilet paper are pretty much daily occurrences. "My fence needs mending" or "my garbage disposal is causing the sink to overflow" are met with your own army of folks. I wouldn't trade this simple way of life for ANYTHING!
So when an emergency takes place on the compound, everybody is "two feet in". When grandma fell two weeks ago, I jumped in - filling in anywhere & everywhere momma & my aunts needed me to. This has led to a house that wouldn't pass any kind of health inspection, a pop-up camper still popped up in my front yard 4wks after vacation, laundry that's done on a need-to-wear basis, and meal making based on "what's that thing in the bottom of the freezer?"
Being a perfectionist by nature, I have struggled with not getting my stay at home mom tasks done. Admittedly a lot of it has been failure to focus when I am home or not wanting to begin something I know I won't have time to finish. For me, it appeared as though my life at home was standing still.
Today, I know that just isn't the case. LIFE hasn't stood still at all. LIFE has been going on around me whether I've caught the message or not. Today, I finally caught it.
Last night momma told me that her deepest desire through all of this is to touch eternity. So when it comes to touching eternity, will the cleanliness of my house really matter or will the care I give to grandma, my momma & my aunts? When it comes to eternity, will what we eat (or don't eat) for dinner matter? When it comes to eternity, do I want my children to model a momma who rushed about through tasks like a mad woman or one that was willing to let tasks go to simply love people?
This isn't the summer that life stood still at all. This is the summer that circumstances reminded me that I've been missing out on life all together. This is the summer that I get to touch eternity with both hands wide open.