A couple of weeks ago, when Alex and I were riding down the road, he said, “Hey Mama?” in the absolute sweetest inquisitive tone you can imagine.
I answered, “Yes, precious darlin’ angel boy?” [okay, slight exaggeration. But I was feeling much love in that moment.]
And my child – the one for whom I have provided gentle, loving care, the one for whom I have suffered all manner of insufferable diapers, the one for whom I have sacrificed every single shred of my pride – replied with, “Are you CRAZY, Mama?”
At the time I giggled a little and said, “No, buddy – Mama’s not crazy.” And then he giggled along with me and oh if we weren’t the McGigglesons in my car, yukking it up as we made our way down the road.
Oh, silly Alex. Asking Mama if she was crazy? Witty, clever child.
But I’ve thought about that exchange several times over the last couple of days, and I’ve decided that the toddler, he was on to something.
Because here’s the thing.
I. AM. SLAP. CRAZY.
I can’t even begin to tell you what the last three or four days have been like. But the word that comes to mind is the one that I’ve already overused abundantly in this post, so I won’t say “the ‘c’ word” again.
Most of the time I do a decent job of managing my commitments. I’m involved in more activities than I talk about here, mainly because some of the stuff I do requires a certain degree of confidentiality.
You know, the spy stuff.
But aside from dismantling smart bombs, perfecting my faux accents, and mastering the art of ka-RAH-tay (“Friends,” anyone?), I think I went a bit overboard with my shed-ule this past week. In fact, I know I did.
Last week when I was doing my Bible study homework, there was a question that said, “Are you trying to do so much that you’re failing to do some of it well?” I immediately answered, “yes,” listed the stuff that I needed to back away from for awhile, and actually got pretty proactive about making some changes.
Here. I have proof.
1) I decided not to do VBS at church this year. I initially volunteered to help so that Alex could go to the activities that they plan for the teachers’ kids who are ages 1-4, because, well, the child adores an activity (I don’t know where he gets it). But you know, he and I can do plenty of fun things at home the week of VBS, maybe even go see a relative or two, and there’s absolutely no law that says I MUST PARTICIPATE. So no VBS.
2) I found a person to take over this cookie ministry thing I do at our church (you join the church, you get homemade cookies delivered to your front door). Getting people to bake cookies wasn’t the problem, but getting the deliveries done was becoming a problem. You can imagine the joy that comes from dragging your three year old to all parts of town as you try to make 11 cookie deliveries on a Monday afternoon. So, yay, me. I’ve handed off the cookies.
But here’s what this week has made me realize. Those two things that I was so proud of giving up? Not even a DROP IN THE BUCKET.
I’m not one of those people who has a hard time saying “no” – quite the contrary – but I am one of those people who likes to “do.” The problem is, over the last few months, the “doing” feels like it’s taking over. And I need, oh-so-desperately, to just “be” for awhile. Allow me to use “quotes” one more “time” in this “paragraph.”
This weekend has the potential for lo, even more craziness. Alex has a friend’s birthday party (we’re SO not going), I have a college graduation party for a girl I used to teach, I have a house that needs my attention, I’m on standby waiting for a shipment for some of this stuff I do that I don’t talk about (no biggie – just a large cache of confiscated missile parts), I have a special service to attend Sunday afternoon, and I would like to, at some point, sleep.
So here’s my plan. I’ll get my LBY post up sometime tonight or tomorrow morning. And then I’m going to take a couple of days off from blogging. It’s not that I don’t love it – have mercy, sometimes I think I enjoy writing about my life as much as I enjoy living it (which is, you know, a problem) – but I’ve just got to make some time to wind down, lest this whirling dervish get caught in the middle of an irreversible tizzy.
And I’m sure I’ll dream up even more astoundingly average content over the weekend, which should give all of you something to feel ambivalent about while I’m gone.
NNNNNOOOOOOO!!! SAY IT AIN’T SOOOOOO!
Just kiddin’. Girl I’ve always marveled at how you power through the weekend pumping out much juicy boomania! I don’t generally blog on the weekend, it’s kinda nice! So yeah, your site numbers will go down a little….who cares. Right?!? ;-)
I’m going to miss you! Nothing does my heart good like a post from Boomama. (And now you’ve got me very curious as to your secret life . . .) So my hope for you is that you’ll have a very productive weekend, getting much done in as little time as possible, so you can come back to your most important task: blogging :)
“And then I’m going to take a couple of days off from blogging.”
Betcha cain’t… :)
I didnt really realize we blogged on weekends; I thought we did our second jobs – church, sleep, bake, yards, whatever. So I’ll miss reading you, but it sure gives the rest of us some grace to “just be” this weekend too. And next week it’ll be such fun to see what we’ve all been up to. Me – the closest I came to getting the house cleaned was to cut lilacs and put them on the counter to make the house at least smell good. So I need time off to “just be” too. I did pay bills, go to bank, gas in car, grocery shop and make a few annoying phone calls.
xoxoxo
Sarah, if you knew what kind of shipment I’m waiting on, you would fall out laughing at how non-curiosity inducing it is. If I get a chance tonight, I’ll email you.
I actually kinda like blogging on the weekends – especially when Alex is taking his Sunday afternoon nap. That’s my favorite time to jot down the stuff that I might want to write about the next week.
And Addie, as long as I don’t go from tens of people to fives of people over the weekend, I think I’m okay with taking a Site Meter hit. ;-)
But then again – Sister may be right – I may not be able to stay away. :-) But after I get the LBY post up, I’m going to try to stay away until Monday. I’ll be reading, though….
I’ll miss reading you, but I snooped in your archives the other day and I’m still not up to date. Maybe I’ll catch up this weekend.
Enjoy “being”. Ain’t nothin’ better.:)
Thank goodness someone said it first! A BREAK! Hooray! Me too! And I don’t care about the numbers. Most of my numbers are family members who HAVE to read me for fear of what I might say! Good for you. I don’t think you have to worry about the numbers. We’ll all be back!
Now see, this is the second reason I don’t have a site meter. (The first being I don’t know how to get one.) I just don’t know who is around and about my site unless you comment. Zero comment posts do make me a little sad though. Have a great weekend and I look forward to catching up on Monday!
Robin – I will warn you: a SiteMeter is far more addictive than a blog. And it’s really not the numbers, at least with me…it’s seeing the places. It’s seeing the states that are listed, wondering who lives where, and sort of marveling that anyone (other than friends and family, of course) bothers to stop by at all.
I’ve noticed that most of us with SiteMeters use the counter that doesn’t show numbers. But does anyone know what’s average? I mean, I know I’m definitely on the low end of the totem pole what with tens of readers and all, but I’m just curious if anyone knows what’s considered “average” blog traffic. I have a feeling I’m way below average. Sort of like I am in math. :-)
You taking a few days off means we will ALL have a little bit less to “do.” I mean, that right there is like 17 posts we won’t be reading ;)
And, as a service to you, I happily volunteer to stop by at least 6 or 7 times so as to keep your site meter numbers in the tens, at least.
Have a good weekend.
You are not below average at math. What would Deb Fryery have to say about that comment, Missie?
So Sarah told me there was not much new out there in blogland, it being Sunday and all us good girls being in church; so she went back to your archives. She told me, actually made me promise, before I go to bed tonight, I would go back to January 2006 and read Mama and the Fish Camp. What a way to end a great weekend. And the next time I feel the least big down here in cloudy, rainy, cold Pittsburgh I know where to go to find some homemade sunshine – Boomama’s archives. You are a modern Erma Bombeck – a gift I plan to keep coming back and giving to myself.
So whenever you take some time off from blogging, like you did this weekend, I will just dive back into the past and treat myself. Bless your moms heart!
Bev,
Since you mentioned you’re reading the Boomama Archives, give yourself a real treat and read Feb. 6th – “One Hot Mama”. I lived out this story with Boomama in real life. I can tell you it was funny then and it is STILL funny now. Read it and weep (b/c you’ll be laughing so hard).