Anything but Boring

There are very few things that I can say about my life with absolute certainty. Being a mother of three children and a wife of an active duty sailor means that my world is in constant flux, continuously changing, and frequently upended. I have come to expect the unexpected. But if there’s one thing I can say for sure it’s that being me is anything but boring.

Exactly one month ago today the kids and I said good-bye to James as he headed off to report to his new ship in Virginia. Since that day I have been the sole caretaker of our household. The weight of this responsibility hit me like a ten ton wrecking ball (hence the lack of recent blog posts) and only now, a month later, am I slowly starting to find my way out of the rubble that was my former life. In the first few weeks after James’ departure I had to struggle with one clogged kitchen sink, two internet/ cable outages, and one faulty power outlet- all problems that normally would have fallen into James’ hands-in addition to all my usual responsibilities like housekeeping and child rearing. It feels like I go from one disaster to the next. Each episode pushes me to the brink of my abilities and emotions. Every day for the last thirty days has been a struggle from beginning to end.

With all this daily strife it was an answer to prayers to have my mom come and visit for a few days this past weekend. I anticipated her arrival like never before. I was desperate for some help and for some camaraderie. But, of course, nothing in my life ever goes according to plan. In fact, my mom’s visit didn’t even go according to Plan B or Plan C….more like Plan Z. Two days into her trip Jamie started showing signs of an ugly sickness- diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy. Two days later Josie became sick. And the next day Johnny came down with some sort of awful cough & congestion cold. And the day after that my mom became sick. Not even in my wildest dreams (or nightmares) would I have imagined that I would spend the only five days that I’d seen my mom in over nine months cleaning vomit stained bed sheets.

I’d like to say that my tumultuous life is caused solely by forces beyond my control; that I am an innocent victim of circumstance. But that wouldn’t be true. Often times I bring the chaos upon myself. In fact, I think sometimes I actually go looking for it. Today, for example, I had to make a birthday cake to serve at Jamie’s birthday party tomorrow. With everything I have dealt with this past month I would have been more than justified to buy a cake, or make a simple round cake and stick some plastic dinosaur toys on top. I could have even used the dinosaur shaped pan that I bought and made a flat decorative cake. But, no. I decided at around 2 o’clock this afternoon that I needed more of a challenge. So I spent the remainder of the day laboring over a three dimensional dinosaur cake. There I was, dragging my three kids into the pitch dark, below freezing night to shop for yellow candies to use as spots on the dinosaur’s back…..Like I said, being me is anything but boring.

P.S. I can’t wait to show you pictures of the dinosaur cake. It’s a show stopper!