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- The other day I had a conversation with my friend and fellow writer, Danielle Bannister, about our blogs and content. Hers focuses on writing, whereas mine...well… if you’ve read it, is pretty much anything goes. From life lessons to writing to movie reviews. She was lamenting over her lack of content/ideas and then she said,
So, instead of my usual thoughts on how not to be a douche, I thought I’d let you all in on a slice of my crazy life. AKA: All the shit that happens to me. Here’s the four-day play-by-play...
Saturday morning I was awoken at 4 a.m. with a terrible earache. (What am I, 3 years old? Ugh.) This weather has been wreaking havoc on my allergies, but earaches are not a common thing for me. I took ibuprofen and grabbed an ice pack and a heating pad. As it worsened, I recognized my symptoms. “Oh no,” I thought, “I remember this. I’ve felt this before.” About 20 years ago, I suffered one of the most painful things ever: a ruptured eardrum. Once you experience pain like that, you never forget it. It sneaks up easily enough, presenting like a regular ear ache but then the pressure and pain intensify, making the entire side of your head, face, jaw, ear, even your hair follicles, hurt with stabbing, pounding pain that doesn’t subside. You know that movie ALIEN? When the creature bursts through the guy’s chest? It feels like that. Except on the side of your head. It’s excruciating.
As it grew worse over the next hour, I bit my pillow through the sobs, and prayed it would be over quickly. Finally, it happened: the loud popping, crackling noise inside my head, and the release of blood and fluid that came oozing out of my ear. Gross? Yep. Relief? Absolutely. I felt my clenched stomach and tense shoulders relax as the pressure finally abated. Then, I passed out cold from exhaustion for about an hour. I awoke with a clogged, bloody ear, and dragged myself to the Urgent Care, which was finally open. Upon treating me (the doc had never actually seen anyone with a ruptured eardrum in person before - awesome), I schlepped over to Target to pick up my prescriptions and a fancy Starbucks concoction WITH WHIPPED CREAM. ‘Cause, Dammit. I earned that. It was a rough morning.
The rest of my Saturday was filled with errands, house cleaning, laundry, weeding the front garden (yuck - until the quick rain storm came and made me run into the house), taking my son for a haircut, and finally, when I couldn’t stand on my feet any longer, a sorta-kinda nap. My kids had asked for pizza that night, so they quietly came in my room to ask for my credit card, then placed the order online and left me to rest. Although I never actually fell asleep, closing my eyes and relaxing was helpful. I emerged from my room to sign for the pizza and enjoyed dinner with the kiddos. Then, it was back to work for me: tackling a new bit of software and trying my hand at screenplay writing. I sat at my laptop for the next three hours with a glass (or 3) of wine while I toiled away on this new venture.
Sunday brought a relaxing morning with coffee and then a jaunt out to meet up with a friend to do more work on said screenplay. Here’s where “more shit happened.” See, If you know me, you probably realize that stupid stuff happens to me (or - maybe I happen, and it results in stupid stuff). So, what should be a simple, “sit at the table like a grown-up, talk-drink-thing" … actually became an: "Oh crap. My ring just got tangled in my sweater and caught behind my back. Aaannnnd I’m stuck thing." (Yes, I’m just that talented.) Cut to me bashfully asking my friend to release me from my slapstick handcuffs and unhook my hand. After 4 hours of discussing story and making revisions, I arrived home, whipped up a taco pie for dinner with the kids, showered, poured some bourbon, and enjoyed a night in solace on my deck.
Monday came too soon, and I basically felt like crap. Ohhhh, what I would’ve given to stay in bed! But, alas, there was work to be done! We were launching our new brand at work and it was an important day for me to be in the office. Driving in, I noticed the low-pressure light for my tires came on. I pulled into the tire place thinking they’ll quickly check it and fill it, but instead, they informed me that they need to do a patch job. Of course, they’re swamped and it would take about 2 hours. I was at the mercy of the tire fixers. *Curses, Universe!*
Upon pulling up my account information, the sales guy started to make small talk and asked about my husband. Answering, I corrected him with “Well, my EX-husband…” A tad more small talk, and then suddenly the guy leans over and slyly whispers, “I’ll try to push you up the line and get you out of here faster.” Well! Heavens to Betsy! By all means, good sir… (And no. You won't get my number outta this, fella…) A cup of crappy coffee, a text to my boss, and 45 minutes later, I was on my way into the office, where a chaotic day ensued.
After work, I promised to drop off a piece of furniture to a friend. Sludging through an hour-long drive in rush hour, I finally arrived. We did some unpacking and organization, then decided to unload the dresser from my car. Naturally, it wasn’t that easy. Unfortunately, my friend had inadvertently slammed his hand in the door and got his unwelcome taste of excruciating pain. Needless to say, the dresser didn’t get moved just then, as we were sidetracked with ice packs and ibuprofen.
Finally walking into my house just after 10 p.m., I took a quick shower and sat down in front of the laptop to write. This time, a blog post. (Be Like Kool and The Gang, if you follow me.) I finally dragged myself to bed around midnight and woke several times during the night. Why? Who the hell knows. I’m old.
Tuesday morning came, and it was off to work again. After my 8-hour day, I had to pick up some supplies for a work event the next day, then drove to the gym and worked out for 30 minutes. Upon leaving, I received a text from my daughter informing me that she needed to get something signed by her Grandma for her National Honor Society volunteer work. Sighing, I drove home, grabbed the slip, then headed to my mom’s house for her to sign and complete.
Not wanting to deal with rush hour traffic again, Mom and I sat down and chatted over a glass of wine. (Post workout/pre-dinner drinks, are cool, right?) Nearing the end of my visit, we were surprised when my eldest daughter and son showed up. They had been to my sister’s house helping with some yard work when, on their way home, they tragically witnessed a deer get struck by a car. (Thankfully, not the car my daughter was driving.) However, it shook her up terribly and my son advised her to pull over. Since they were only a half-mile away from my mom’s house, they decided to stop there.
I was glad I was there to comfort her because as soon as she set foot inside and blurted it out, she broke down crying, and the mama bear in me jumped up to hug her.
After she composed herself, we all headed home. (My kids to their dad’s house, and me to mine.) But, not before a quick stop to the store because my son had informed me that we were “out of milk.” Nearing 8 p.m. now, I grabbed the leftover pizza out of the fridge (3 days old? Meh, I won’t die), poured a glass of wine, and sat on my deck catching up with my friend, Danielle (as mentioned above), via text until it grew dark. Realizing it was late, I showered, fell into bed, and managed to sleep an ENTIRE SEVEN HOURS! Good gracious!! That was the best feeling in the world! Everything is easier to deal with when you've had good sleep to re-charge.
So, why the four-day diary of my life? Shrugs shoulders. I dunno. ‘Cause my friend told me to? ‘Cause I’m easily talked into stuff? But also, it made think about time. People are always saying, “I have no time.” “I don’t have time to do this, that, etc.” We all have the same amount of time each day. We all get 24 hours. (Well, assuming we live.) How we choose to spend it isn’t always entirely up to us, as family, work, other commitments, or plain old adulting (blech), dictates a lot of it.
But, we do have some amount of choice and freedom. I didn’t have to sit down and write. I chose to. I didn’t have to sit on the deck sipping wine and chatting with a friend...I could’ve gone to bed earlier. Some things were responsibilities I had to fulfill. Like work. Like being a mom. Running my kid for a haircut. Making dinner for the family. Some things were necessary evils to have my life function: like waiting for my tire to get fixed, or buying groceries. But there were some hours within each day that I chose how to spend. Sometimes I napped. Sometimes I went to the gym. Sometimes, I helped a friend. Sometimes, I wrote.
We all HAVE TIME to do the things that we value and that are important to us. Is there always enough of it? Nope. Do we always accomplish everything we want to on any given day? Nope. Life doesn’t get easier. Life doesn’t give you a break. Life is just Life. It keeps moving. We just have to pick and choose how we want to move through it. We can do it with a positive attitude, or we can bitch and complain and be negative about everything we’re dealing with. Why be miserable? Choose to look at things in a different light. Choose to spend the time you do have, differently.
Life is crazy. Kids, Job, responsibilities… they can all be demanding. Overwhelming. But it’s our life to live and we don’t have to be bystanders. Stop complaining about the lack of time or freedom or what isn’t. Start figuring out a way to work in more of what and who you love. Even if it’s only in small increments each day.
See? I couldn’t just write a blog without a few choice bits of my opinion on life, could I? Haha. *High fives!
We all have 24 hours each day.
How are you gonna spend yours?