We left the house late and had to follow a bus all the way to school only to discover upon our arrival that my youngest had forgotten his saxophone. I did manage to remember my dentist appointment (don't know what I was thinking schedule a cleaning on a Monday morning), but during the drive there I came to the shocking realization that Christmas was less than three weeks away, that I had yet to send out Christmas cards, that I'd barely made a dent in my Christmas shopping, and that I'd made even less progress on my Christmas quilting projects. After my appointment (and the scolding I received for not being more consistent with my flossing), I drove home for the saxophone, delivered it to the school and finally returned home to start my day at 10:30 with absolutely no energy, a pounding stress headache, a to-do list the length of my arm, and only 4 hours before it was time to pick-up the kids, supervise homework, and get to hockey practice. Pretty standard stuff.
I managed to call my sister (I'm a master procrastinator), clean the kitchen, and start a load of laundry before the panic began to set in and I found myself roaming the house asking: What should I do next? How am I ever going to get it all done? Why doesn't my family help more?!? And then in a brief and unusual moment of clarity, I decided to sew.
The minute I plugged in the iron and sat down to my sewing machine, I could feel myself beginning to relax. My breathing and heart rate slowed, and instead of running in circles like a headless chicken, my mind grew quiet. As I focused on the pieces of fabric in front of me, I finally calmed down and the horrible feeling of being overwhelmed began to recede into the background.
Forty-five minutes later, the phone rang and the spell was broken. It was time to get back to reality. I still had more to do than I could possibly accomplish in a single day, but everything was different. Just a few minutes of quilting had stopped the downward spiral that would probably have ended with me drowning my sorrows in ice cream and wine (post 5:00 pm, of course) after having accomplished nothing all day but talking on the phone, surfing the internet for crock-pot recipes, and plucking my eyebrows. My little session of quilt therapy helped me to regain my footing and I was able to return to the demands of my life with renewed determination, a sense of humor, and maybe a bit of optimism. Not bad for a few minutes of quilting.
But I still can't remember writing those checks!
