You know those days when you wake up and know things are going to be hectic? Well, I had one of those this morning. And maybe that’s why I was less than pleased to find out my daughter’s school had a delayed opening due to the snow that stopped falling yesterday.
GO
Once I dropped Isabelle off at school I raced to the supermarket to pick up the jalapeno pepper I forgot to buy for tonight’s dinner. I got home and expected to get to work mining a picture book for craft moves. Instead I came home to e-mails that needed quick responses. Just when I thought I’d be able to get to work a reminder went off from my GTasks.
Call Comcast — again.
GO
Ugh! That was a call I didn’t want to make. I won’t bore you about the reason I had to call them, but let’s just say that once I got the right person on the phone an hour and a half later I got the answer to my question in under five minutes. (Many thanks to Casey from Comcast’s Harrisburg office who solved my lingering problem in five minutes, which no one could seem to do in the previous three weeks.)
GO
While I was on hold for Casey (which took so long I tweeted Comcast!) I started preparing tonight’s supper since I knew I wanted something warm to eat when I arrived home at 7:30 p.m. tonight. Multitasking is my thing… until the chili pepper fell into the slow cooker, which caused me to leave this note for my husband who will be coming home to a mess I was only able to partially clean up due to the fact I had to pick up Isabelle early from school.
GO
By the time I cleaned up the mess and got off of the phone with Comcast, I realized I only had 15 minutes left until I had to pick up Isabelle at school to drive her to her medical appointment. Not enough time for me to eat lunch. Grrrr! I popped some cheese and crackers into my mouth, packed a Lara Bar for the ride, and got in the car to pick her up from preschool.
We drove the 25 minutes to her appointment and were taken in on-time (which was nice). I kept going and going until my husband took over and drove them home so I could take care of my work and the appointment I have at 5:30 p.m.
I kissed Isabelle and Marc good-bye.
“I’ll see you around 7:30 p.m.,” I said.
They walked off in one direction and I went in the other.
PAUSE
I inhaled deeply once I sat down into the driver’s seat of my car. I looked at my watch. I had two hours — two good hours — until I had to be at my appointment. I glanced at my work bag, which I contained the picture book I hoped to mine for craft moves and my iPad. Where can I go to work on this?
I pondered my possibilities. Starbucks? Panera? Cocoa Beanery?
Panera. I needed to eat. I don’t have many options these days since I’ve been gluten-free since mid-January, but there are still a few things I can eat at Panera. So, I drove there. I ordered my late lunch. By 3:45 p.m., I sat down in a booth, unpacked my work, and breathed. It was so nice to hit pause on this hectic day.
GO GO GO
There’s barely anyone here at Panera at this time of the day (because most people have eaten lunch and it’s too early for dinner). I can work in relative peace until I have to leave. At 5:15, I’ll be on the go again. The day will go full-force until I turn in for bed a little after 10 p.m. I’ll take some time to pause and take a few deep breaths between now and 10 p.m. Yes, I will do work. Yes, I’ll respond to e-mails. Yes, I’ll check out other Slicers’ writing. But I will also remember that not all days are this hectic. (Heck, not all of my writing is this disorganized. But the SOLSC demands that I write daily this month. This piece of writing most closely represents the day I’m having, so, well, this is it.) Being busy isn’t always bad. And besides, I’ll have warm chicken chili waiting for me when I get home later.
Raising Literate Humans 
Yup, I can feel this crazy day. That’s what you get for living a full life 🙂
I wouldn’t trade it, Bonnie. Especially after yesterday’s pajama day.
Busy days do remind us to slow down sometimes. I have found that I enjoy quiet and relaxing moments so much more after a “no time to breathe” type of day. These peaceful moments are like a reward for our hard work.
I’m hoping to have some down-time this Sunday.
Yes. And…. yes. I cannot believe you actually cooked. That would have been the first thing to go for me!
Well, I do love to cook. However, the chili I made was not worth the time or the mishap. The recipe got trashed. 😦
“Pause” was my favorite part — I could feel the slowdown in your writing, and felt myself slowing down to breathe too. I could feel the craziness in all the “go” sections, but the “pause” was a nice reprieve! A neat way to show your hectic day!
I’ve lived those very same long stop and mostly go days too, Stacey, and even though they’re long over now, they do leave you spent…and longing for just a moment of stillness once in a while. When the stillness does come, and it will,
you hardly know what to do with yourself! LOL!
Same days are had here too often as well. I love how you kept GOing back to the task at hand. And PAUSE to think and reboot. It was a nice writerly touch in the minutia of just trying to get a day done according to plan!
By the by, I’m gluten free for over a year now. Going anywhere tends too hard for me still but I’m impressed you could handle the temptations of Panera’s bread 😉
It took a lot of self-control to keep myself from laughing out loud when they asked me if I’d like to add a bakery treat for $.99 to my order after I told her I was ordering the power chicken hummos bowl because I was gluten-free. All I could think was, “what in that bakery case is gluten-free?!?!?”
Nothing, Right? Nothing in the bakery cases are which is tragic but seems like we have immense willpower to others! Might I recommend a trip to Vermont. It’s like GF headquarters up there with the exception of the Skinny Pancake.
Stacey, I love the way you broke up your writing with the “go” and “pause” refrains…it was reminiscent of my day today as well. Glad you found a little peace in the midst of the craziness!
You captured the pulse of your day Stacey! And I never think of your writing as disorganized! Hope you were able to settle in and get some sleep…
I’m tired just reading this slice. It doesn’t feel disorganized, just maybe a little frantic. The way you inserted GO, PAUSE, really works. Panera’s is one of my favorite quiet working places too.
Your writing sounds just like your day! Go – Pause – love the image it conveys!
I think a rest day is in order for you tomorrow. I felt exhausted just reading your go go day. Glad I am not the only one who still feels like lunch is important no matter what time it is!!!
Reading this post made me out of breath! Your day seems like a whirlwind, but I’m glad you got it all done! 🙂 I know want Panera…but they don’t have it here in China. Alas, I’ll have to wait til July.
I’m glad to see that life doesn’t get any less hectic as kids grow older!
Busy, hectic, go, go, go. PAUSE. BREATHE. We all have these days. So glad you could actually take a little time for just BE.
I cannot drink any caffeine past… really ever, because I don’t use any caffeine as a general rule (no one needs me talking and thinking faster than I usually do). Just drank a soda with caffeine – hoping that I will be able to sleep through the night. This is an amazing month. Hope you find little times of peace throughout.
So, where does busy end and hectic begin? I think we all have those crazy hectic days now and then. Hope your days get back to normal.
Pause and Panera! Love it! Days like these, leave us all feeling discombobulated and frantic. I felt time slipping away from me as I read. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds like my overloaded week this week. Go-go-go like crazy. Nice to know I’m not alone.
Exhausting day…love the way you spooled out the frenetic pace and your thoughts.