Welcome to winter break!! The second most glorious time for teachers. (Kidding, you know I love my students and my school.) However, everyone loves a few days off, so naturally, I started making plans of what I was going to do, how I was going to relax, what I was going to watch, games I would play with my kids, all kinds of ideas on how to spend my few days in between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. I was super excited and my break started off exactly as planned.
We had a wonderful time at a Christmas party on Friday night. It was so much needed adult time with fun people. There was a couple of cocktails (Butternog!! Ask me about it!!) and amazing food (Thanks Rikki!!) and lots of laughs. We did not even get home until after midnight. Much better than a typical Friday night where I fall asleep about 8:45.
Saturday was spent finishing up all the errands and wrapping the rest of the gifts; getting ready for the festivities to continue with Christmas at my moms. We were going there Saturday night so we could open presents on Sunday after dinner. Saturday was also spend visiting Jason’s grandpa, doing some holiday light gazing and then hanging with my nieces and nephews. Again an excellent night!!
Sunday morning was coffee and PJs, no one was in too big of a hurry to get ready. Cousins were playing nicely and my dad and I were talking football. We ate, opened presents and the girls played with their new found toys. Happy, happy day……
And then…….
Talk started to come up about a winter storm brewing in the west…… I started to feel…..chilled and achy……..a sore throat……..a hacking cough……..
This is the point where all plans are beginning to unravel…………………….
I had the flu on Monday and Tuesday. Fever, chills, aches, grossness, all rolled into one package that was me in my bed. No Christmas church service, no prime rib with Jason’s family, no games with the girls, no cards, no movies. Just me in the bed alternating between hot fever and cold chills. I barely made it out of bed to see them open their Santa presents and was quickly back in bed when they were done. Not the Christmas I planned, not in a million years…..
Wednesday, I finally got out of bed, feeling better but not 100%. We ran some errands and Jason made the decision to go ice fishing ahead of the storm that is supposed to be dumping a foot of snow on me. He assures me I can run the snowblower so I will let you know the success of that after I try it. But I for sure am not leaving my house for a few days. You are thinking…….so you should be able to still do all of the things you wanted to do, right??
Wrong, two out of three girls are now sick. One already has a fever and the other will have one in the next few hours if the pattern continues. I will be getting medicine, filling up juice containers, and snuggling with my littles while they get through this. While I love the snuggling, this type of snuggling and hanging out was not in the plan.
So that long-winded story brings me to the ultimate question…..why do I make plans? I know I am a very type A personality. I like to plan out and have control over all of the things around me. I may have even planned the time we were taking a shot at the Friday night party. I know….ridiculous….. But when I don’t accomplish this imaginary list of “things” I wanted to get done, I then become stressed out that I am not doing enough. (I have issues relaxing at times.) Does this ring a bell with anyone else? Is it my midwestern work ethic running my life? If so I can blame my dad……
WHOA…..That even caused me to take a breath. Perhaps God made me sick so I would be forced to slow down and be where I am right now. Maybe the list had to be “taken away” so I would be able to focus on the sick kids and blizzard surrounding me. Maybe we need to focus on what God is trying to tell us and observe the signs. I am not very good at that and I am very much still trying to figure out my relationship with God, but that is a post for a different day…..But could it be he is trying to tell me something?
Challenge Time!! Who has tips for me? How do I chill out and just be? Do I need to let go of my “list”? Does anyone else feel this way? What do you do when your plans don’t work out as planned? Leave me your comments here or on the Facebook page, Speaking Jelinese. Clearly, I need some help relaxing.
Talk to you soon,
Angie
Speaking Jelinese 