Sometimes the Universe gives us subtle reminders to slow down. “Hey, here’s a sniffle and a sore throat. You should make a honey and lemon drink and have a rest for while. Go and put your feet up for five minutes.”
And sometimes the Universe builds a rather sturdy brick wall in front of your face and says, “SLOW DOWN! I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING.”
The Universe delivered a slow down message of the not-so-subtle variety last week. I went off to the ProBlogger conference on Friday morning full of enthusiasm and ready to learn, and came home on Sunday via the doctor and couldn’t get out of bed for a few days. Sam had lovingly passed on his bout of Influenza A to me and it wasn’t very fun.
Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who is used to making school lunches and putting loads of washing on, friends who are happy to help out with ferrying children to and from school at a moment’s notice, and cleaners who tuck me into bed with a cup of tea when they find me sobbing into my pink fluffy dressing gown (thank you!). I graciously asked for and received help when required, but it’s not very easy being out of action when you’re the primary carer. It’s not easy being looked after when you’re the one used to doing the looking after.
As I was lying in bed with a fuzzy head and body not functioning very well, it made me think about all the parents (like the spunky Julia) who have serious illnesses and constantly feel under par when also trying to manage family life. You guys rock, and I know that I’m a complete sooky la-la just dealing with a week of the flu so I admire your strength.
When I was feeling a bit better by Wednesday afternoon, we decided to go ahead with our plan to hold a garage sale on the weekend. Sam had been wanting one for years and was pretty excited about it, in particular preparing his Rainbow Loom creations to sell. We are donating proceeds to the Leukaemia Foundation, so the purpose was more for clearing out than making money, but it was an interesting experience. I think I went through every dusty (hasn’t-been-touched-in-5-years) box in our garage to prepare for the sale, so that was probably the most rewarding outcome of the whole process. It felt a little odd putting our life out on tables for people to pick and choose from, but most of the people who stopped by were lovely and it was nice to generate a little cash from items we no longer needed. I’m glad we’ve ticked it off the list, although we probably won’t ever do it again. Have you ever held a garage sale before?
Between Ben being out most nights at conference events and this darned flu, I feel like the past week has been a bit of a write-off, but perhaps we did achieve a bit after all. There were plenty of cuddles with my littlest Love and I read a whole book. Another busy week is ahead for the Loves, so it’s probably good that I had a few days of rest while the Universe was bossing me around.
PS. Yes, I’ve missed week 33 in the 52 Project. I’m not even going to attempt to catchup so it can be our little secret, okay? 😉
Nicholas: Oh you with your teenager bed-hair, licking every morsel of apple off your fingers. You do love apples, and now it’s also your favourite word. I can hardly resist when you ask for them so eloquently.
Charlie: You have been so delightful lately, stepping up so beautifully when you know Mum hasn’t been feeling well. When I snuck away to have five minutes quiet time the other afternoon, you followed me in, patted me on the leg and said, “are you okay?” and sounded more like an adult than a five year old. I was so proud of you when you came home with a ‘praise note’ from your teacher on Friday, after giving a wonderful talk to your class about the invention you made.
Joining in the 52 Project at Practising Simplicity ~ a portrait of my youngest boys every week in 2015.
