A Change in Perspective…or Too Tired to Create a Catchy Title

Pretty sure I’m still waiting for the vacation to begin…and I’m already back. This picture was taken during one of the rare moments that I wasn’t doing something this weekend. A 700 mile road trip with 6 girls is not exactly restful. It was fun, it was loud, it was warm, it was sunny, it was great…but I’m so tired now.

Anything you do to recover from vacation and come back to reality? I learned long ago that I do better if I wait a day to unpack and get settled back in. When my girls were younger, we used to spend 4-5 weeks at the Cartwright Lakehouse every summer. When we finally came home, I would spend the next day taking the girls school shopping because I just couldn’t deal with real life yet. Not that real life was bad…it was just…real. It was hard to remember what real life was like after all that time swimming, fishing waterskiing, eating, watching movies, roasting marshmallows, long walks, shopping, and just spending so much time together. So I gave myself a bit of leeway and tried to re-enter life slowly.

It is harder to do that now that the girls are older. School, activities, work, dirty laundry, dirty house, lonely husband, friends and so many other things start pulling on me before we even get home. I dove back into life today and this is how it went:

-Daylight Savings meant we felt like we were waking up an hour earlier, but a late-start school day meant everyone got to sleep an extra hour…so we were even there.
-Lainey was up and off to school.
-Riley had a very sore ear, so she and I were off to the doctor for an ear exam and irrigation…they forgot about us and we were there for over 2 hours. Went straight to the pharmacy, but couldn’t wait for medicine because I had to teach soon.
-Halle refused to get out of bed while I was gone and Joe was supervising and trying to do lawyer stuff…she stayed home.
-I taught a 6th grade class feeling tired, dizzy, and hung over and dressed in jeans and recycled hair because the extended doctor’s appointment left me no time to get ready.
-After teaching, optimistically stopped at the grocery store to buy ingredients for a lovely “we’re together again” dinner.
-Loaded the groceries, called Joe, and cried most of the way home because I am so tired.
-Unloaded the groceries, ate half a box of Girl Scout cookies, and read BH&G.
-Joe, noting my distress, dispatched the girls to clean the kitchen and dispatched himself to pick up prescriptions for Riley, and pizza for dinner. I’m dispatching myself to bed!