grace under pressure...

A big THANK YOU to Pam and Sandy of Words of Wisdom for honouring me by naming me as a Blog of Note! If you've not checked out Words of Wisdom, you should. By nomination, they review blogs and then highlight them on their own blog. It's a grand way to find new reading material and revisit old friends of the blogosphere!

Join the conversation!

I've been blogging for a little over a year. It's been great fun meeting so many people all over the world. I'm pleased to call many of my new aquaintances 'friend'. It started one frosty winter morning talking with one of my best friends on the phone. "Nance....you should start a blog.", Christine told me. "I did. You'd love it." And you know what? She was right. I do.

And I'm glad that YOU do too! Thank you to all of those that have been with me from the beginning and those just coming on board. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Also,  a big thanks to Leah Rubin of Funny is the New Young for nominating me for this awesome award! It's truly good to have friends...
:-)

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I sat down.
For a just a moment.

I decided to take a little time for myself since no one was home and not expected back for a few hours. I made myself a highball and put in a movie rented from Blockbuster that’s been sitting on the bureau for weeks. And sat down. It was heavenly.

Not the movie.
Not the highball. Although it wasn’t all bad.

But the sitting down just for a little while.
Forgetting that the garbage needs to be taken out, the yard mowed, the dishwasher unloaded, the laundry put away. I still have on my list to re-paint Boo’s bathroom…I could get that done in this block of time, but no. I’m just going to plant myself on the couch and watch a film, of my choice, by myself, for a change.

As I sat there, I wondered if this is how my parents felt. The weight of all this responsibility. Always having a 'to do' list running in the back of their minds. Too much to do and not enough time to do it in. The burden of having a family and running a home. Maintaining schedules. Making sure that everything is in place at all times.

My mother always had everything under control, but she was not controlling. She never, ever showed any distress. She never got caught unprepared when guests were arriving. She had everything planned days in advance. I never looked in the refrigerator for a snack and was unable to find anything. Our fridge wasn’t full of processed packaged foods…it was stocked with things that my mom made full well knowing that we would be sticking our heads in the ice box after school looking for something to eat.

As a high school teacher, her schedule mimicked ours. But also as a teacher, we usually got home before she did. She taught at a downtown Toledo public school. We lived in the suburbs of Sylvania. It wasn’t far, but we usually would be home at least an hour before she pulled in the driveway.

I grew up with an outstanding role model and at the time really didn’t know it. Just like everything else in my bubble, even though my mind knows differently, I forget…and think everyone is like me. That everyone's parents were like mine. That everyone had what I had. That everyone went on vacations. That everyone had to learn to play piano. That everyone had Saturday chores to complete before being able to play with friends.

I remember being in school and wishing that we lived in the development down the street. I had many friends from school that lived there. That seemed so cool at the time, all those houses close together on curved roads. Cul-de-sacs seemed to be the golden place to live. How neat to be able to ride yours bike in circle all day long. They had sidewalks. Their houses were close together so you could cover more ground at Halloween. You could talk between windows with cans tied with string.

We lived on several acres of land. My neighbors had several acres, and the next neighbor had several acres. Our lots were very deep and wooded in the back. The woods all connected and we rode our bikes and mini-bikes through the trails we forged. At Halloween we had miles to cover since the houses were far apart. But everyone gave out full sized candy bars, roasted hot dogs and apples to bob for all the children in costumes.

My friends in the developments wanted to come to my house to play. I wanted to go to theirs.

That is my first memory of the 'grass is greener' syndrome.

But now, as I’m older, I appreciate more what I had as I was growing up. My dad was the provider. My mother was the ultimate homemaker. She worked and ran the house. Growing up I hung equally with both my parents. My dad taught me how to properly use tools, fix things, garden. My mother taught me how to plan and cook meals, iron shirts and balance the checkbook. My ex-husband said I was Bob Villa and Martha Stewart wrapped into one. And I was. Am.

I can have a meal cooking and go out to lop down and tree and split the wood for a fire by time dinners done. Paint a room while the soufflé is rising. Run for a quick manicure while the laundry is on spin cycle.

I’ve become my mom. And my dad. With a bit of Nancy thrown in as a twist.

I appreciate my parents more now than I ever did. My mom was a gem. My dad, too. Grace under pressure. That’s what they both taught me. What an amazing lesson that I’m still trying to perfect. Do your best. Plan ahead. Don't get caught unprepared. Smile.

How did they do it? Are things that much faster now? I think so. The lazy days of summer you see in movies are long gone. Now is the time of schedules. Blackberry picking is about choosing a cell phone, not of gathering materials for a pie. I wish things were just a tad slower in pace. To take some time sipping sweet tea on the hammock. Relaxing shouldn’t just happen on vacation. It should be something implemented into daily life, before daily life passes us by. Quite an epiphany.

So I sat down.

I plugged in a movie I’ve been waiting to watch when I had the time and I made the time. I enjoyed it.

Not the movie.
Or the highball.
But the time spent doing nothing...

:-)





Footnote: Thanks to both my mom and my dad for all their support over the years. I'd never be where I am without their love. I'll even add in there my big bro'. No matter what happens in the future...I know that I'm a pretty lucky gal to have had them all in my life...