As The Days Go Rushing By

We are already two weeks into the summer break, and the days are rushing by at breakneck speed.  We have had one thing after another to rush off to and do and be at and rush and rush and rush.  It feels just like the school year, but with a merciful margin of error for sleeping in a little bit. 

So far, we've done the following just in the last two weeks:  a trip to The Greenbrier for a work-related retreat -- the girls had a blast bowling, swimming, spa-ing, and peeking discreetly and non-vacation-interruptingly on our orders at a vacationing Tom Cruise, who happened to be staying in the room across the hall from us; dance rehearsals out the wazoo for the annual dance recital; and then two nights of dance recital in a row -- momma's insanely fast costume changing skills were put to the test this year; and then last night, we went to see the musical, The Addams Family, at the CAC in Morgantown.

It has all been very fun.  And wonderful -- dance recital this year was superb, and The Peanut's skills and comfort with complex movement has really improved this year along with her technique.  We could not have been more proud.  The musical last night was really fun, and the girls (The Peanut and our niece, who is staying with us for a few weeks) had a blast. 

But for me?  It has been rush, rush, rush to get everyone where they needed to be on time and well prepared.  It feels an awful lot like the school year grind, at a time when I have the least amount in reserve, but I am still pushing the boundaries of what I can do because it has to be done.  It is, after all, what mommas do, even when they are also doing chemo.

Not exactly the moment of exhale that I was hoping for this summer.


Today, though, for the first time in forever, there is nothing on the agenda for anyone in the house. (Other than for Mr. ReddHedd, who dutifully got up, fortified himself with coffee and trundled off to work to make the moolah that fuels the house payments...thank you, sir!)  We are a scheduled activity free zone today, and I am most grateful for the pause in our usual daily grind.

I plan to make the most of it by officially declaring today "tidy up all of our living spaces and then enjoy doing something frivolously nothing important day."  Or that day when mom makes us clear the clutter for her own sanity's sake and then lets us laze around doing something crafty and fun.

It is amazing how much crapola can pile up when you are barely seeing your house and you rush hither, thither and yon for days and days on end.  Especially when momma finds herself collapsing in a heap far too often these days out of survival mode -- it is what it is, after all, and pushing myself beyond what is smart is just not an option right now, so things stay undone in fits and spurts as a result.

Today, though, we will have a course correction.

Some serious clutter clean-up is in order.   What I would like is a lot less chaos on a room to room basis, and that will require an all hands on deck approach if we are to make any headway. 

Let this be the summer that everyone learns that momma cannot do it all...because, quite frankly, I can barely do anything at all some days, and more than ever I need to be able to do nothing and not have the house fall down around me.  It can be a valuable lesson to learn to help someone else when they need it most, and maybe that is the best I can hope for as something to learn at this stage when the days go rushing by...

(Photo via Juanviz.)