Tattered Cape

Some weeks you set your goals, line up your tools, and start just knocking things out. Each day brings its own accomplishment and leads you to believe that maybe, just maybe, you might be on the right path for you. Then there are weeks where it seems no matter how well planned, organized, and caffeinated you are nothing is falling into place, the world is on fire, and the word accomplishment seems to have left your vocabulary all together. Well friends, this week has been the latter for me.

When Monday rolled around, I felt amazing. I was coming off of a fun filled weekend with my family, had a glow golf date with my husband, and spent a lot of fun time just hanging out. Things were ahead in the Ketchup Sandwisches content creation world, and I was setting a good pace with my regular job. Monday's merriment turned into Tuesday's trepidation.

My workload ticked up on Tuesday and I was feeling pressure to focus on work which left me to rearrange my goals for writing and podcasting. No big deal on its own, but then as the evening was winding down and I realized that I had grossly over scheduled the day. My daughter had flag football practice Tuesday evening directly followed by my son's final soccer game of the season. By the time I got everyone home, fed, and in bed I was exhausted. So exhausted that I did something I almost never do. I left dishes in the sink to be washed Wednesday morning. I know, it's incredibly scandalous.

Well, Wednesday I must have slept through my alarm leaving me an hour behind by the time I did my work out, showered, and put myself together. So, Wednesday and I were not off to a good start. Wednesday afternoon things to a plummeting deep dive into the "What Is HAPPENING?!?" realm. Let me set the scene.

A couple of Wednesday's a month I volunteer with the Youth program at my church. This Wednesday I am bringing some 'Pigs in a Blanket' as a snack for the kids. As I am rolling these little piggies, I happen to glance at my phone to see a message from someone I do not really know. Upon opening the message, I see that a member of my family has found themselves in legal trouble. So, as the message requested, I called the person who messaged me to get more details. The more I learn about what has gone down the more confused and worried I become.

Unfortunately, between my mom and other family members I have found myself in position of chaos coordinator extraordinaire more than once. No matter how many times I walk this road of helping someone I love, things are never easy. Obviously, there is no convenient time for someone to experience a crisis, but man oh man it would be nice if just once a crisis would happen when my bank account is overflowing, and my calendar is wide open. Easy or not I launched into problem solving mode while trying to keep myself and everyone involved calm.

So, Wednesday comes to a close with more information in hand on the crisis, but with me behind on work and behind of my writing. Ok, no big deal I will catch up on Thursday. What a silly, silly girl I am. Thursday morning brought with it the hangover of a sleepless night and the weariness of a still unresolved problem. I had my first experience speaking to a bail bonds person as I spent my morning calling and coordinating things. Finally, with the grace of God I was able to get things as resolved as possible.

My biggest struggle with my family is never knowing what the truth is. So many times, I only hear what someone thinks I want to hear or what they think will get what they want from me. All I can do when these situations come around is trying to muddle through the various versions of the story and do what feels the most right at the end of my muddling. Never have I regretted helping anyone, but I do wish help was needed less frequently. My cape is getting a bit tattered.

Now it is Friday, and I am exhausted to my core. To make up for all the changes in my schedule I worked until about 10 PM last night. I have never pretended to be a night owl of any kind, but I pushed through. Well, you are all caught up and I have about 10 more hours of work this week to get to my 40-hour requirement. Needless to say, I am looking forward to the meeting I have with my pillows this evening.