This year is flying by and I'm barely hanging on. Ideas for this blog have flitted in and out of the recesses of my mind as I have struggled with issues due to MS, recovery from my surgery, and just life. I enjoy sitting down and talking to my blogger world, but as the sun sets each day, I find myself flopping into bed not even kissing my hubby goodnight.
I remember as a young girl a commercial about lemonade. It was filmed in a hazy, warm light with kids swinging in a tire swing under a big leafy tree and a huge grassy field behind them. The camera would pan along a dirt road and into town to two old men playing a game on the porch of some shop with them laughing and sipping the lemonade. And of course, the voice-over would ask if you remembered the lazy days of summer and how you could have it now by enjoying some lemonade.
I don't know about you, but my lazy days of summer, or any other time of the year, ended about the time I turned ten. And with each year, they are getting faster and faster. In fact, I've compared it to being on the Merry-Go-Round at the fair. Life started out slow and fun. But now, my beautiful white horse with the flowing pink mane and golden bridle is spinning around so fast, I'm going to be flung off into a black hole somewhere. I just want to stop the ride and get off.
But getting off is not an option. Trying to slow down the ride is.
A few weeks ago, Rick and I were able to do just that. Maybe not slow it down but giving ourselves the illusion our carousel was not going at warp speed. He had a business conference that fell right before our anniversary weekend. The conference was at a really nice lodge in Deer Valley, UT and it was all-expenses paid. So I went with him. The rooms were offered at reduced rates for the weekend so we took them up on the offer. He got to attend his conference; I got some R&R; we got to spend several days together for very little money; and our anniversary wasn't some rushed date out to Texas Roadhouse Grill.
I've been eagerly awaiting the planting season. As I was laid up with my bum hip in January, I was plotting and planning my garden. I started my little seedlings a little later than usual, but with Mother Nature being the fickle woman she is, being late was okay. My seedlings were going to make it. Until...they got left out in the blazing heat and were fried! Literally, there was nothing left of them not even a shriveled stem. After that, I wanted to give up. I was really too busy with doctors', work, and just keeping up with the house to even think about trying to jump off my white horse to go buy plants for my garden. I just wouldn't do it. It'd save me all the long months' of weeding, watering, and eventually canning and freezing. Besides, I still had all my fruit to deal with. And believe me, it's plenty.
To add to the frustration of trying to keep up with my spinning whirlgig, my AFO or leg brace broke--snapped by the ankle. Who knew carbon steel could do that? So I was back to using my worn out one. I had to really concentrate to pick up my toes and not trip over them. I got tired faster. One day at work, I did a beautiful face plant on the carpet. That wore me out even more.
Even with all this, you and I know this fair ride called Life is permanent. Face plants or dead plants don't allow us to call it quits and yell at the carnie worker, "Hey! Stop the thing. I don't like this anymore." We have to keep plugging away.
What keeps us from losing our lunch are the moments of lazy days and lemonade. Where the trials, tests, frustrations, jobs, headaches, life on their little merry-go-round are in slow-motion for a brief moment in time and let us gain some sanity. We breathe, start to laugh, enjoy our chosen steed, and say, "I like this ride after all, Mr. Carnie. Let's go for another spin. And make it faster this time, please!"
