The past few weeks have been nutty.
(Anyone else, or am I the only one? 😉 )
The school year is wrapping up for both my daughters. Consequently, my Gmail inbox is overflowing with emails about end-of-year parties and final performances; invitations to contribute to class teacher gifts; and friendly reminders to send in $6, cash only please, for Anna's Field Day T-shirt.
I thought I already sent in $6, but I went ahead and sent in (another) $6.
The girls' sports seasons are wrapping up too.
Grace and Anna get so much from their lacrosse and soccer teams, respectively. I wholeheartedly support my girls, and I love cheering them on. I do, however, look forward to taking a breather from 8 a.m. lacrosse tournament start times on Saturday mornings, and 9-year-old soccer games that take place in all sorts of weather.
For example...
This past Thursday evening, it started downpouring. Monsoon-ing, even. I kept waiting to get a notification from Anna's soccer sports app that her game was canceled.
Ding.
Hopeful, I looked at the new notification: "No thunder reported at the field...game's still on! Go Eagles!"
My heart sank.
"Woo-hoo!" Anna cheered. "Playing in the rain is the best!"
Yep.
Grace peered out the window. Wind whipped sheets of rain across the street. Our front sidewalks were flooding. She glanced back at me. "Have fun, Mom."
Agh.
"Have fun, Mom."
Meanwhile, I finally figured out all the girls' summer camps; I just Venmo-ed my last summer-camp payment.
I think I've puzzle-pieced our summer together in a way that will work with Stanton's and my work schedules...I think.
I've lost some sleep, here and there, about how we'll get the girls to some of their day camps, which start after or at the same time as Stanton and I need to be at work. "We'll figure it out, Mel," Stanton told me last night. You don't have to figure it all out on your own, he stressed—which was reassuring to hear.
With its lack of built-in schedule and extended daylight, summer can be...a bit tiring for parents.
Like many kids, the girls love swimming in the summer. I still need to renew our season passes for the town pool, which opens this week. A Leddy family tradition is that we're there for opening day.
This year, opening day at the pool happens to fall on the same day as Anna's dress rehearsal for her performing arts class's final performance.
Anna wondered if we could do both: pool, plus dress rehearsal. She's had a swimming countdown on her calendar for weeks now.
"Um..." I looked at my calendar. "Sure, that's doable." I'd pick Anna up from school, and then along with Grace, head over to the pool before dress rehearsal.
The girls high-fived. "Opening day at the pool! Leddys are there!"
Woo-hoo.
Something that helps give me sanity in nutty times, as crazy and/or boring as this may sound, is...vacuuming. That's right, friends: vacuuming.
For whatever weird psychological reason, vacuuming my home is soothing to me. Possibly because it feels like a "refresh." Possibly also because it's a physical activity—literally "blowing off steam" and all that.
On a recent Sunday evening, I began to vacuum through the girls' rooms, all the leftover paper bits and pieces of their weekend art projects mixed in with potato-chip crumbs. Get us ready for the week ahead.
Suddenly, the vacuum cleaner stopped working.
"Stan!" I called.
Yes, as sexist as this proves me to be sometimes, I'll admit it: I don't troubleshoot appliance problems if my husband of 16 years is around.
Stanton tried to fix the vacuum. He read the owner's guide. Watched several how-to YouTube videos related to the particular make and model.
Nothing worked.
I'd just bought this vacuum several months ago, around the holidays. As with all my purchases—everything from big-ticket items like cars to smaller home products like coffee makers and vacuums—I'd turned to Consumer Reports.
For decades, I've read and trusted in Consumer Reports. (Is it any surprise I work in a public library?)
I'd bought this vacuum because Consumer Reports had recommended it. A recommendation that turned out...not to be a good one.
I felt disheartened.
Disheartened, and in need of a new vacuum.
The next day after work, I drove over to Walmart. Still reeling from my disillusionment with Consumer Reports, I bought the cheapest vacuum in stock. I was over vacuums at the moment.
But...I still had to assemble my new, super-cheap vacuum. Stanton was out of town, otherwise he'd be doing this.
Agh.
Then, for the first time in my life, I read the owner's guide for an appliance...and assembled it.
I set the screwdriver on the floor. Plugged my new vacuum in. It worked.
I'd actually done it. There was something satisfying about that.
Immediately, I picked up where I'd left off—vacuuming through the girls' rooms.
Here comes a new week.
Here comes summer (ready or not).
Photo credit: Pixabay
+
Like what you just read? Then check out Melissa Leddy's e-books on Amazon.com. Short fiction and creative nonfiction writing that's engaging, witty and from the heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment