This past week does not qualify as the worst week of my life. But if I kept a list of most stressful weeks, this one would be right up there. Fortunately it is now Friday evening and I discover that I’ve weathered the week to find a happy place on the other side. I survived managing preschool with a baby in hand. I not only survived it, but I feel like it went pretty well. NotMyBaby cooperated by taking a long nap at the best possible time. Howard removed Patches from the house at a critical moment and all else went well. Most amazing ofall, I was able to sneak in some leaf-raking yard work during one of the free play times. I still have events scheduled tomorrow and Sunday, but now that my brain isn’t busy supressing panic at the anticipation of preschool, I can see that these final events are all ones that require me to leave the house without my children. That kind of activity generally de-stresses me rather than stressing me further. So, now I’ve got a survivor’s euphoria and I feel happy.
I still want to do some analysis of the effects stress had on me this week. I need to sort it all out and figure out why I was so panicked and why that panic surfaced in the ways that it did. But that’s too thinky for me right now. For now I just want to float calmly on a wave of relief, put my kids to bed and have a long bath. That would be good.
Congratulations on the successful survival!
And next time you’ve got preschool, now you know you can handle it and a baby. You’ve done it before, you can do it again.
Survival
“If you can keep your head in all this confusion, you just don’t understand the situation.”
“This mess is a place.”
Now you understand a little more the significance of those quotes. But you have a lot going for you.
1. You were raised in chaotic moments interspiced with moments of peace. Only thing is, back then you were part of the chaos!
2. You have Howard. He is part of your assets. Keeping him as an emergency backup is great but don’t feel guilty when you need to use him. After all, you are hosting preschool for the benefit of Gleek who is his daughter as well as yours and to save the money you would have spent on preschool taught by an experienced teacher who would also endure moments of chaos and disorganization. . . And you are tending NMB as your contribution to the family budget as you all cooperate to help Howard achieve your family’s dream.
3. You are bigger and older and wiser than 5 four-year-olds, 1 toddler and 1 baby. Repeat that as a mantra: “I am bigger. I am older. I am wiser. I am bigger. I am. . . etc. etc.” Oops! Sounds like you are outnumbered. That isn’t so good. Stop counting. Go back to repeating the mantra. By the time Gleek starts school you may believe it–at least the bigger and older part. . .
4. You have analyzing skills. You take a situation that was (shall we say) a little less than perfect and analyze it to figure out why it happened the way it did and how to change it next time. The only problem is that next time it happens a little differently and you feel a little differently and the kids never bother to read the script and therefore they don’t know how to react when you attempt to apply your carefully thought out rational solution. So they create their own senario and here we go again! But if kids knew how to act grown-up you would be out of a job!
5. You believe in what you are doing. That makes it worth doing even when the doing is difficult.
6. You have an abundance of love to give and a cheerful attitude that makes you a joy to be around. (Well, at least most of the time.) Actually, none of us expect the sun to shine all of the time. Rain, storm clouds, fog, etc. happen in the world God created and make life interesting. So don’t be hard on yourself when you get moody–just remember that you are adding variety and interest to the lives of the people around you! (Sorry, couldn’t resist saying that!)
7. You have a craft box with glitter and glue and popsicle sticks in it to reach into and pull out emergency solutions. (Imagine Mom grinning and patting herself on the back.) So, too, do you have a creative mind and you are able to pull out emergency solutions. Sometimes the emergency solution is more fun than the original idea.
[Remember when our family was in charge of family reunion and it was too hot to play the games we had planned and so I announced a boat race? I made up rules on the spot and announced a time to meet at the stream with their boats. Kids and adults alike scrounged their campsites and the craft tables to create boats for the competition. I suspect we all have more memories of the boat race than we ever would have had of the games.]
8. There is always another time to do things differently. (But thank goodness it is five weeks away!)
9. You have a place to vent and explain and think out loud where people actually listen to you and care.