Am feeling good! Everything that I was so worried about not getting done...is completed, finished, fait acompli (or however you spell it!)
Woo hoo! Large pat on the back for me!
Only problem is.....I now have a whole new list of things to do!
In retrospect, I realized today that I was putting it all off because I was hoping...just a teeny tiny bit....that by missing a deadline, I wouldn't have to go through with the upcoming project, it means two weekends in a row with little or no sleep, and the demon of all Fridays shopping (ugh!).....loading stuff, unloading stuff.....then spending two days standing over 425 degree oil deepfrying pastries..... then draining them, packing them, counting them, storing them, cleaning everything, loading everything, unloading everything, just to load it and unload it all the next weekend.....did I say ugh already?
My daughter, myself, and a small group of other teen-age girls (with a few other very helpful parents) participate in a local festival that is in less than 2 weeks, and in that time period I have to marshall the troops, get others motivated, get them ready to work their butts off for a solid 48 hours! And I mean solid, no time off for good behavior! And then the next weekend we do our thing, in historical costumery no less......if I get really brave I may post a photo or two...erhmmm...mebbe!
I was really dreading it this year, the amount of preparation can become overwhelming, and I have this terrible habit of NOT ASKING FOR HELP! So all the little boring details are accomplished by yours truly. But if all my helpers pull through like they did last year, it will be one like-totally-awesome weekend knahmeen? (hmm wonder how many kinds of mixed slang that is).... and I have to say, after 2 years of training them in the way things need to be done....last year....they just did it....very little direction from me. It was really very cool to watch, it was almost like a choreographed dance, and I am talkin' about 14 people here, there were a few stumbles early on, but then everything just flowed.....every once in a while I would get a "Sunny, is this what you want? Should I do it this way, or that way?" My response was usually a smile and, "You know what you are doing, so do what works best for you to get it done." But most of the time, they just did it, whatever needed to be done, and they did it well, we were actually done 5 hours ahead of schedule. Whereupon I was home and in bed by 5:00 P.M......I still remember how good my bed felt.
In actuality the prep weekend was the best part about last year because, we had a major injury on festival set-up night (ended up spending hours at the emergency room and then back out to the festival grounds to finish setting up our booth), and it rained the entire weekend of the festival, I am talking literally slogging around in ankle deep water and mud, with our skirts hiked up to our knees (which was very unladylike---back in the 18th century, ahem..ladies did not show their ankles...boobage...yes...ankles and elbows...uh huh no way!) So I am hoping for nice weather.....a bit on the cool side...makes things more fun...but lots of sunshine....been afraid to check the forecast though, and not really a lot I can do about it anyway, there is no preparation for bad weather, except to endure it the best we can...not as if they had umbrellas and plastic raincoats back then....also bad weather keeps the crowds down, which means empty coffers.
I am not expecting the usual high level of committment this year, the girls are older, busier, but this is one thing they really enjoy doing as a group, nerdy as it is, they still have a wonderful time.....not sure if it is the dressing up in 18th century costume, the boys at the participant dance on Saturday night, or the entire ambiance of the thing, but every year it is the one thing that gets total enthusiam....total committment from all.
What amazes me the most about the day is that I got all the nitty gritty little details that were bogging me down accomplished, even though I worked too.
Although the day did end sadly for me, I had forgotten an important file that I need for a client meeting in the morning and had to return to the office to pick it up, while there, I decided to check my voicemail, and received the news that a long-time client had passed away over the weekend, so I had to make a couple of phone calls to her caregivers to let them know....that was the hardest thing of all....they work so closely with their clients, and to learn of one's death is extremely hard on them.....I offered both the opportunity to take tomorrow off, or at least a partial day to attend the funeral, their choice.....they seemed shocked...one even told me that she would never have received that opportunity from her prior supervisor...wtf? Someone they were close to died! Granted it wasn't a family member, but still.
Once I was finished with the phone calls, I had this little thread of guilt ripple through me....have you ever heard the saying that death comes in threes? It really seems to for me...I had 3 people close to me die between the months of February and May, then in July, 3 of my employees were all out in the same week attending funerals of either a close friend or loved one. Two weeks ago another long-term client passed away, then last week a ...hmmm don't know exactly how to describe her...not friend, not family...sort of a combination....anyway she died, sooooo I think I have been unconsciously waiting for the 3rd death....we have a very close family member very ill right now....and when I heard of this recent client, after dealing with the subsequent phone calls, I let out this huge sigh of relief and heard myself say...."that is my three, thank god (little g not big G, don't think she had a hand this)"....
Anyway, even with the sadness, this week is off to a much better start than I anticipated...keeping my optimistically-pessimistic-fingers crossed that the rest of the week contains more postives than negatives. Hoping yours does too :-)
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