I saw a good friend on Saturday, and we made plans for me to visit her the next day. She’s a very good friend, but we don’t see enough of each other, and the idea of visiting her without all the kids in tow sounded appealing, so I decided to skip the trip with the family the next day and unwind with some female bonding.
One big part of why I decided not to go with the family to NY/NJ (because my husband took everyone on a day trip to NY after dropping our son off at his camp bus – Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, and then the ferry) was because I was feeling very pressured about the transportation issues involved in getting the three kids to camp in NY, and I just didn’t want to spend a long day driving around. We had arranged to take our son on Sunday to the camp bus in NJ, a three and a half hour drive for us, and had to be there by noon. That was doable. But then I found out that the bus for the girls was leaving two days later from the same city and I had to be there by 8:30 am. Which would have meant having all of my kids dressed and breakfasted, and out the door by 5 am, and that felt like a LOT of pressure. (Have I ever mentioned that I’m not an early riser?)
The logistics kept changing – I was told I had to have their luggage dropped off two days before, the same day as my son, which I could do since I was already in the area. But then I couldn’t take the other boy attending the same camp as ds with us, which I had committed to doing, because I would have to take a bench seat out to fit everyone’s luggage. Then I decided I would just drive them all the way to the Catskills in NY so I could take the boy on Sunday, and take the girls and their luggage at one time on a different day. And the time and money involved just kept rising.
But right before I called my friend to confirm that I was on my way, she called me. She had just realized that they had a prior commitment and it wouldn’t work out. I was disappointed it didn’t work out, but I was so grateful that I had stayed home anyway. Quiet time is so crucial. I had been feeling a lack of it, but I I wouldn’t have voluntarily slowed down enough to just take time for myself to stay home – but this was the situation I ended up with. And it’s exactly what I needed.
So Sunday I had lots of time with just me and the baby. I can’t tell you how peaceful it was! I really, really enjoyed it. In mid morning I had the opportunity to be helpful to a large number of people in a way that was meaningful to me that I couldn’t have done otherwise, and then received a number of calls afterwards from some of those involved, and enjoyed the conversations in a quiet house. I rested, I went slower than usual – it was very unremarkable and very nice.
Later in the afternoon, my 11 year old came home, and together we peeled pears and plums. I’d bought a big basket of pears last week (45 pounds for $10), and they were now starting to ripen and get small soft spots on them, and had some plums in the fridge getting too soft. We cooked them up into a compote – well, it was mostly pears, so I don’t know if I can call it compote – and canned up five and a half quarts, and a quart of pear syrup (don’t know what I’ll do with it but it was the thick sweet liquid left after all those pears cooked down). I know that doesn’t sound like a lot of fruit, but it took a lot of pears to make that much cooked fruit! The baby enjoyed sitting in his high chair and watching us, and it was relaxing to do our work together and chat while we did it.
We did a couple of other things together, then just had a mellow evening and she told me that she expected to be bored at home with no one else there, but that it had actually been very relaxing and she enjoyed it. I felt the same way!
Avivah
