Responsibilities

My husband has told me a few times, in our life together, that if I didn't have a stressor at the moment, that I would stress over that fact. Hmmmm....what do I think about that?

It's true, I suppose. I'm so busy being busy that I don't stay busy at what NEEDS to be done. Let me rephrase that. I know you, my intelligent reader, are able to comprehend the above statement, but I feel the need to clarify what I mean.

I have a lot of responsibilities. Everything I'm involved in NEEDS to be done. It does not, however, have to be done by me. I have enough to keep me busy at home. My problem is that I take on so much outside "stuff" that I don't get my "stuff" done at home. The family joke (an all too serious joke, I must add) is that I will do ANYTHING to get out of doing laundry. It is a sad fact.

Now before you start feeling sorry for my family, we don't walk around wearing dirty undies....well, I won't get into that when it comes to my 5 year old. BUT, the laundry gets washed and dried. And that's about it. LAUNDRY IS MY NEMESIS! It has taken me many years to get here. I haven't always had this problem...well, that is a lie, I guess. I've always had a distaste for the art of laundering, but it was always manageable. Now that I have 4 monkeys and 1 full-grown ape...then there is myself, the zookeeper...well, THAT, my friend is a bunch of laundry.

But I digress. My point is this: because I involve myself so much into other duties, the household duties, such as laundry, are neglected.

I do love to be involved. I'm not guilted into doing any of these things, I just volunteer for pert near everything that is brought up. I have really started to look into this more because of MOPS.

MOPS is an acronym for Mothers of Preschoolers. (My dh wants to know when I'll actually learn to mop....laugh it up, fuzz-ball!) Anyway, we are going through the book "What Every Mom Needs." I am starting the discussion tonight. The topic is growth. The idea is that moms tend to lose themselves when they become parents. Two weeks ago, we MOPpers lost our identities...today our growth is stunted.

I have been reading and preparing for this talk and I have begun to realize that I'm not growing. The very first "barrier" the book brings up is busyness. THAT IS ME! I'm too busy. I made it a bit harder on myself last night. I was at a PTO board meeting (yes...I'm on the PTO board.) I went to talk to my kindergartener's teacher about the upcoming Thanksgiving Feast. I'm the homeroom mom. Somehow, I have found myself involved very deeply in this feast. Instead of just offering to bring paper goods, I'm now coordinating efforts, to be shared with all the other K5 homeroom parents, for the feast itself. If my dh is not home on that day, I will have to find childcare for my two cherubs that are still home, make my way to the school to help with the Indian headwear and the pilgrim collars before going to the cafeteria where about 125 VERY excited and antsy 5 and 6 year olds will be waiting to partake of turkey lunchmeat, dried fruits and other feast quality quisine.

So while that is in the back of my VERY PACKED head, I am planning my MOPS talk, planning a teacher training for Sunday School teachers and planning the next event for the teachers for PTO. I'm burning at both ends and feeling a bit soft and "melty" in the middle....HEY...CUT THE FAT JOKES!!!

The fact is...I love it. I love the adrenaline rush that I get from being on a time constraint and in the end (after MUCH belly-aching...both verbally and literally) coming out having accomplished all that I wanted in a semi-acceptable way.

So my hubby is right. He is such a smart man. If I only had house duties, I would be bored from lack of stress. Is that sad? I really don't know.

I will return in a few days having accomplished a few of this week's tasks and, I'm sure, having picked up a few more.

Blessings~