by Heather Plett | Jul 4, 2007 | grace
The sun is shining
my bike tire is fixed
I’ve figured out how to delegate some of the work that was stressing me out
and we don’t have to replace the furnace.
My perspective is much improved today.
Ironically, it was this universal truth that I found strangely comforting last night.
I will disappoint you.
It’s true.
I will let you down.
If you are my employee
and you always expect me to be fair
and never to be selfish or forgetful
I will let you down.
If you are my friend
and you expect me to remember your birthday
and always think of calling you when you’re sad
I will disappoint.
If you are my daughter
and you think that mommies should never get angry
and always have time to listen
I will fail you.
If you are a busy volunteer
and you think that I should phone you regularly
encourage you and show appreciation for your efforts
I will fall short of your expectations.
If you are a blog reader
and you visit expecting to be entertained each and every time
by elegant prose and witty anecdotes
I will miss the mark again and again.
If you are my mother, husband, sister, team member, neighbour, brother, or just a person I see on the bus once in awhile,
I will most certainly let you down.
It’s not that I intend to.
In fact, I try hard not to,
and there may be long stretches of time when I live up to all of your expectations.
But somewhere, somehow
I will disappoint each and every one of you.
That is the way of human relationships.
There is disappointment sometimes.
Because, like you,
I am wonderfully and awkwardly human.
And flawed.
But that’s not the end of the story.
These three simple words in a Martyn Joseph song
made the universal truth bearable last night.
“Waiting for grace”
I am waiting for grace.
It is grace that lets me get up this morning
and try again.
It is grace that lets you forgive me when I fail.
It is grace that gives you understanding and compassion for my flaws.
It is grace that makes something beautiful out of the mistakes.
It is grace that makes love grow even in the face of disappointment.
This morning
I am waiting for grace.
by Heather Plett | Jul 3, 2007 | Uncategorized
Today I am stuck
It’s raining again
The tire on my bike is flat
Sleep didn’t cooperate last night
The carbon monoxide tester woke us this morning (does this mean the furnace might need to be replaced? Groan)
Someone emailed me to say “get your act together and show some appreciation for so-and-so who’s feeling neglected”
I got another rejection letter in my inbox
I haven’t written anything creative in ages
I can’t seem to remember how to write anything creative
My work is piling up all around me
I’m losing a staff person, which means more work to add to my piles
There’s some conflict that I need to step into the middle of
Blech
There’s chocolate milk dribbled down my kitchen counter, and when I saw it this morning, I just shrugged and walked away – too many messes to think about
Somebody important wants me to come meet them in Montreal
but it happens the same week somebody important needs me to be here
to organize something even more important
so I might not be able to go
I think I’ve managed to disappoint someone
maybe more than one “someone”
I’m tired
I can’t seem to organize myself out of chaos
I have too much to do
I don’t know where to begin
I have to notify a bunch of people that we’re losing one of our staff people
I have to figure out how to get all the work done that the person used to do
without losing my mind
My in-box is overflowing
I doubt myself today
I might feel better if the sun would come out
and I could go for a walk
I can’t seem to get anything done
because I’m stuck
in a rut
It feels like too much today.
(Sorry about the whine. It’s all I’m capable today. I’ll try harder tomorrow.)
by Heather Plett | Jun 29, 2007 | Uncategorized
Yes, for those of you who wondered if I survived the birthday party, I am still alive. The birthday party didn’t kill me, but the month of June has certainly made every attempt to eat me alive.
At this very moment, there is absolute stillness in my house. I am alone, with NOTHING to do. I think that’s a miracle. I haven’t had a solitary moment like this for at least a month and a half.
It’s just been one of those months – 7000 soccer games, 2000 meetings, 1000 birthday parties, 500 major projects due at work, 10,ooo people demanding my time and energy, and very. little. time. to. catch. my. breath.
But today… today is the very first glorious day of THE END.
I took a desperately needed day off work, and this morning Marcel and I went for a very pleasant bike ride and breakfast out. And then I went to Value Village to buy my summer wardrobe for about 20 bucks. Yes, it’s been a good day so far. The girls will be out of school in a few hours, we’ll go to the last soccer game of this part of the season (it starts up again in September, but just for Nikki and Julie), and then we’ll have a LONG WEEKEND. With nothing to do! Not one of my kids is invited to a birthday party! There will be no soccer games! No meetings! Nothing! That word never sounded so good. I think a day at the beach is in order.
Happy Canada Day my Canuck friends!
by Heather Plett | Jun 24, 2007 | birthday parties, Julie
It’s midnight and there are six shrieking ten-year-old girls in my basement. Why? Because I suffered a temporary lapse of judgment and INVITED them. Or at least I allowed them to be invited. Julie is celebrating her birthday with every preteen girl’s favourite pastime – a pajama party. Oh my – WHAT was I thinking?
They’re all decent girls, and mostly things have been going swimmingly, but there have been moments when I was almost certain I’d have to call for back-up. (Did I mention that my husband abandoned me? Yeah, he’s sitting in a pub somewhere watching a friend play jazz. Probably with a glass in his hand and a smile on his face. Hmmm… I think he owes me BIG time.)
My least favourite moment – the one that ALMOST convinced me to call all the parents and say “HELP! Get these children out of here!” was about half an hour after all the adults had abandoned me. After cake and ice cream (yes, the depths of my insanity knows no bounds – I pumped them full of sugar!), the girls had disappeared into the basement to watch a movie. I poured the last of the coke into a glass and was about to sit down to enjoy it in a rare moment of peace and quiet. Yeah, sure. No rest for Mommy. And no coke either. I dumped the WHOLE cup of coke all over the floor. Yeah, Coke. Sticky. Sticky walls, sticky floor, sticky legs. Sad, sad mommy. And absolutely nothing else in the house I felt like drinking. Colour me disappointed. And sticky.
But that was only the beginning of my misadventure. Julie called from the basement that the movie wasn’t working. I went downstairs to a very hyper room full of little girls. And in the middle of that, I discovered that some of them had managed to burst the air mattress they were supposed to sleep on by jumping on it. And someone else had spilled a whole cup of pop on the futon – the other place where some of them were supposed to sleep. And remember what had brought me downstairs in the first place – the movie wasn’t working. Ahhhhh!!! Panic! No beds for them to sleep on and no movie to give me at least an hour of peace. WHAT was I going to do? Umm… let’s just say the girls saw my grumpy side at that moment.
Well, I managed to clean up the mess, flip the futon to the dry side, and get the movie working again. They remained relatively quiet while watching the movie and no-one has come up to report any more spilled drinks or other mis-haps. They’re managing to make themselves relatively comfortable in sleeping bags on the hard floor, so if they ever actually lie down, perhaps we’ll all get at least a little sleep.
Did I mention that before this insanity started, I thought it would be a good idea to sew them ALL funky purses as their goodie bags? Yeah, that’s right, I really AM insane. And this was in the middle of one of the craziest months EVER with soccer every night, a major week-long session of board meetings and schmoozing out of town big-wigs, and about 15 parties for the girls to go to. (And in case you’re wondering why there are SEVEN bags, it’s because I actually let Julie invite SEVEN people, but rather mercifully, two of them couldn’t make it.)
But lest you should think I’m the only one who’s a little insane/obsessive/ought-to-be-committed, I didn’t actually do much of the actual work of planning the party. That would be my amazing sister ccap and two friends. They organized an Amazing Race game all over the neighbourhood. It was a hit for all involved, including the adults who huffed and puffed trying to keep up with a bunch of energetic and highly competitive little girls. (We had to go along to save the girls from themselves – on more than one occasion, we had to hold them back from plunging into the street in front of a car – out of sheer competitiveness.) We were happy for the clues that actually required a bit of time and effort on their parts (like drinking an entire Slurpee, chewing each piece of Bubblicious gum in a pack until they could successfully blow a bubble, and putting together a Kinder Surprise after eating the chocolate.)
And then after planning an elaborate game, The Amazing Auntie baked a matching cake. My girls are possibly the luckiest kids around to have her for an auntie. She has set the standard impossibly high – I can’t imagine how I’ll ever live up to this with her off-spring.
Seriously, though, other than the moment of sheer panic, I don’t mind the giggles of girls in the basement. I’m happy for the friendships they have and I like to see them having fun. I’ll get through this night in one piece (just a little sticky and probably a tad tired), and hopefully I’ve helped create a memory that will stick with them. Some day this house will be painfully quiet and I’ll probably long for just one more crazy night of giggling. For now, I’ll try to enjoy it.
Now please, PLEASE let this thunderstorm pass without any of the girls getting scared OR (heaven forbid) the power going out! There’s only so much I can take!
by Heather Plett | Jun 18, 2007 | weekend
I had great intentions of writing a birthday post for Julie (my glorious, smart-as-a-whip, spunky red-headed middle child) on Saturday, but life got in the way. This weekend alone, there was a LOT of life happening:
– Nikki attended a birthday party for a friend
– Julie attended two birthday parties for friends (believe it or not, she has 2 friends born on the same day as her – consequently her party is next weekend)
– shopping for all those birthday parties
– both Nikki and Julie had soccer games (and I actually got to watch both for a change)
– I attended a baby shower for friends
– we all went to Marcel’s sister’s place for a father’s day supper for Marcel’s dad
– the girls and I took Marcel out for father’s day lunch (combined with Julie’s birthday lunch)
– Nikki ran the 2.6 mile Super Run at the Manitoba Marathon again (and we both got up at 6:00 this morning to bike there in time. Yawn.)
– I did the major bi-monthly grocery shopping trip
– Marcel had a study date with a friend
– Nikki had a play-date with a friend
– I got eaten by at least a dozen mosquitos (as did other members of the family)
– Maddie had at least 2 meltdowns (do you suppose she was feeling left out in the whirlwind of activity around here?)
And somewhere in the middle of all that, I managed to get through 5 loads of laundry. Now it’s after 10:00, and in order for me to get to sleep at a reasonable time, I need to go fold the last load. (Double yawn.)
I think I need to go back to work tomorrow to get some rest.
Update: The laundry is folded, and I’m on my way to bed, but I couldn’t resist mentioning… I just checked the marathon results, and Nikki placed in the top 10% of all runners (of all ages) of the Super Run. I think I have reason to be proud of my long-legged runner who’s only 11 and has years of potential ahead of her! (I know this post was supposed to be about Julie, but I’m proud of ALL of my daughters.)
