A temporary return to sanity… October 17, 2010

So I haven’t posted much lately because it’s been pretty much the same …

Spend Saturday at the house… work our keisters off… relax on Sunday (or try to)… visit MIL on Friday…spend Saturday … and so on.

And that’s been life for months.

Sadly, I’m not my usual super faithful super punctual self when it’s come to church, and believe me, I’ve felt the guilt. Granted, it’s unnecessary guilt. I’m not skipping church because I’m “not in the mood” — in fact the top five reasons have been:

1. Little Z is sick

2. I’m sick

3. DH is sick

4. We’re too sore to move more than a few inches

5. We’re all sick AND too sore to move more than a few inches.

And today we missed church again. But this time it was for fun.

Earlier this week DH got a call from an old friend. She had two extra tickets to the local Ren Fair and she’d buy for LittleZ. They were having trick-or-treating. She was bringing her daughter and did we want to go.

Honestly, I didn’t. 1. I knew I’d be sore, 2. I wanted to go to church and 3. I “don’t do” Ren Fairs. I think they’re silly, and too much “in character” annoys the stuffing out of me. But DH really wanted to go. The social anxiety has been kicking up and the stress of everything lately was making his thoughts sticky.

So I went for him (because of what I mentioned), LittleZ because this has just not been a fun summer for the poor kid, for our friend who was willing to overcome some pretty major anxieties just to make the trip and her daughter who hasn’t exactly had an easy time lately. Essentially everyone but myself.

So I very quietly grumbled to myself (I didn’t want to ruin it for DH). But as I thought more and more about it — it occurred to me that I did need to go for me too.

Why?

It was a day of normal. Our small family at a fair with friends. Very sane, very normal, very necessary.

We’ve been so wrapped up in the drama with MIL it seems like we almost have forgotten what normal families do with small kids. That a pleasant day out for fun. No making decisions for other adults. No adult tantrums. No earth-shattering-life-changing events to manage.

And I did end up having fun. Despite the constant “in character” atmosphere, there was also a self-depreciating sense of humor that I appreciate very much.

So it was a temporary return to sanity. I’m still sore as heck, but who cares? I have a desk job after all. We return to insanity x3 by going up to my MIL’s house for 3 days next week. But for now, we’re just a happy normal family with an exhausted daughter in bed and mommy and daddy relaxing after one heck of a good day.