by Heather Plett | Aug 25, 2005 | Uncategorized
Today, I have a yearning to go to summer camp. Not as a grown-up, with responsibilities for caring for children or anything like that, but as a kid – a full-fledged carefree kid. I want to go to a place where all my needs are cared for, the bell rings when it’s time to eat, someone has lined up activities for my whole day so I don’t have to think, I can buy something from the tuck shop every day with my Mom’s money, and the greatest effort I have to put forth is to put my sleeping bag and suitcase in order so we don’t lose points for cabin check.
Some days, being a grown-up feels like more headache than it’s worth. Yesterday was one of those days. I had to be grown up ALL day and it was just too much for me. And not just a grown-up, but I had to be a leader all day, and that’s even more taxing.
I’m a manager at work, so I have to make a hundred decisions every day, solve problems, discipline employees when there’s a need, and in general act like I’ve got it all put together. Mostly I like being a manager. Yesterday I didn’t. For one thing, we had to meet with an H.R. consultant about a very sticky situation with one of my staff members. It’s messy and I don’t enjoy it. Then, in the afternoon, I had to do an annual performance evaluation of another one of my employees – not something I enjoy much either. If it’s any comfort for those of you who have sat and squirmed while their managers did their annual appraisal, believe me, it’s not a lot of fun on THIS side of the desk either. It particularly doesn’t help if you have employees who are forever judging your performance as well, looking for things to nail you on.
After that fun-filled day at work, I rushed home to have supper with the family and then role #2 took over. Mom. Marcel had had a rough day and has cooked most of the meals lately, so supper preparation had been left to me. Actually, Julie wanted to cook supper last night, which means that the Mom role is even more involved in meal preparation. I can’t just shut everyone out of the kitchen and go to work, I have to be patient with her and let her learn without taking over completely. And, as every mom knows, the minute you walk in the house after having been away, the demands are thrown at you faster than you can take off your shoes. “Can I invite Renée over tonight? Can we watch a movie? Can I go for a bike ride? When are you going to take us school supply shopping? Why didn’t you fix my pants yet? Can we go for a Slurpee?” Just once, I want to walk in the door, and have someone meet MY needs instead of demanding I meet THEIRS!
Supper had to be short, because role #3 needed to take over. Grab my purse, kiss the kids, and rush to church. We had a leadership team meeting, and I’m the leadership facilitator, so I run the meetings. Again, it’s something I enjoy doing, so I’m not complaining, but yesterday if felt like yet another demand piled onto my shoulders. At least with this role I don’t have to dole out discipline or take responsibility for too many decisions – I’m just helping other leaders reach their own decisions. But…I’m not sure if it’s because most of them are introverts and therefore don’t get or give out much energy in a group setting, but MAN it’s hard to get some of these people excited about anything. You present something, ask for feedback, and you’re met with a bunch of blank stares and folded arms. Am I gettin’ through to you? Does it make any sense? Don’t get me wrong – I like the people in the group – but at the end of a meeting like that, it’s really hard to judge whether there’s been any value in it or not.
So today, I want to find a playground (the camp is my first choice, but I’d settle for a playground) to play in, hang on the monkey bars and swing as high as I can on the swings, forget about all my responsibilities, and just be a kid again. Just for a little while – that’s all it will take. When it’s bedtime, I’ll be happy to be a grown-up again, because I don’t want someone else to tell me it’s time to go to bed!
by Heather Plett | Aug 24, 2005 | Uncategorized
According to a recent U.S. survey, the Top 3 Reasons for Reading Blogs were: “news I can’t find elsewhere”, “a better perspective” and “faster news”.
Funny, I never (or rarely anyway) read news blogs – only those that are enjoyable, personal and give me a break from all that “real life” stuff on the news that I’d rather avoid.
And you?
(Sure, feel free to tell me I have my head firmly buried in the sand. I can take it.)
by Heather Plett | Aug 23, 2005 | Uncategorized
‘Cause then when your three year old daughter puts her greasy post-supper hands all over your pant leg the first time you wear the pants, and you realize after washing them that the stain didn’t come out, you can brush it off with “oh well, at least I only paid $4.99 for them”.
by Heather Plett | Aug 22, 2005 | Uncategorized
We sealed the deal on the camper last night. It will be moving on to its new owners later this week. Soon, it will house another family, protect them from the rain, keep them warm when it’s cool, give them a place of refuge from the busy-ness of their lives, and hopefully continue to be filled with great memories.
After accepting their final offer last night, I crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep. I woke up during the night, though, with a feeling of deep sadness and almost panic. My first thought was “I’m not ready to let it go!”
We had fun in that camper in the last 4 years. The first weekend we used it, we camped at Hecla Island. Some of my family joined us there, and it was that weekend at the camper that we announced that we were expecting Maddie. I was already 3 months pregnant, but we’d waited until then to tell anyone because we’d had a stillbirth and a miscarriage before Maddie came along and we were, quite frankly, a little nervous.
Maybe that weekend, when her arrival was first celebrated, somehow contributed to the fact that Maddie seems to be our most outdoors-loving kid. The next summer she was just a baby the first time we set the camper up at a seasonal site at White Lake. We took to calling her “beach-bum-baby” because she was by far the happiest when she was lying in her stroller at the beach, or in an inner tube in the water. She had the most adorable tanned chubby legs sticking out of the stroller.
We put alot of work into the camper. When we first got it, I re-upholstered all the cushions (and there are a lot of them), sewed new curtains, and painted some of the walls. The next year, Marcel replaced part of the floor that had rotted, and I put in new flooring tiles. I also sewed each of the girls a special camper pillow with their initials on it to match the upholstery.
Lots of people visited us over the 2 years we had it parked at White Lake. Most of the members of both of our families enjoyed some time with us in the camper. Neices and nephews stayed with us, friends from church camped with us, and we got to know other campers who spent the summers as our neighbours.
We added a screened-in cabana/deck, and enjoyed many evenings there, protected from the bugs and/or rain. I remember lots of laughter in the cabana. I also remember some soul-searching conversations there – like the weeks after my brother-in-law’s first marriage fell apart.
Oh yes, it’s hard to let it go. At the same time, though, I know it’s the right thing to do. We’re downsizing, and the big camper just doesn’t fit into our lifestyle anymore. It’s too big to pull with the new car, and with only one income, we can’t really afford it either. We’ll probably replace it down the line with a smaller pop-up camper, but for now we’re quite content to be tenters again. Like I’ve said before, though it hurts now and then, we know it’s right for us to take a step out of the consumer rat-race and find ways to reduce our consumption and simplify our lives.
It makes me feel a little better to know that the new family who will enjoy the camper seems very nice and appreciative. They’re expecting a second baby, so next summer, the camper will hear the coos and cries of another “beach-bum-baby”, as well as a toddler. No, I’m not much of a capitalist – I’d rather have something I’ve enjoyed go to someone who will love it as much as I’ve loved it than make alot of money off it.
I heard a great story on the weekend of some people who’d bought a house on a private sale, and the people who’d sold it to them accepted their offer not because it was the highest bid, but because they were the family they most felt should own the home. When they took possession of the home, they found a gift for each of the kids that the previous owners had left them in their new bedrooms.
I think I’ll do something like that for the new owners of the camper – leave them a little gift and a letter of “blessing” telling them we hope their memories add to ours to continue to fill the camper with love and warmth. Because in the end, possessions are (should be) like that – ours to use and enjoy for awhile, but then let go and hopefully continue to find a use and bring other people joy.
We’ll still have fun and find joy in other places and other campgrounds, even without the camper. We’ll hang onto the memories it helped us create, and the love we put into fixing the camper up will continue to bring other people joy. Forgive me, though, if I shed a little tear when they drive away with it.
by Heather Plett | Aug 22, 2005 | Uncategorized
After my great find at Value Village yesterday – pants that fit like they’re MEANT for my body rather than the body of someone with no hips, stomach, or butt – I thought I’d try my luck again today when I had a little more time. Well, to my surprise, my luck held and I found THREE MORE PAIRS of great-looking great-fitting pants. Yay!
Unless you’re on a budget as tight as ours, have discovered that EVERY PAIR OF PANTS IN YOUR CLOSET is falling apart at the same time, and you have a lumpy not-made-for-pants body, you probably don’t appreciate how HUGE it is to find four decent pairs of pants for $25, without even having to comb through racks and racks of clothes. And one of the pairs is Ralph Lauren. (Not that I’m big into brand names, but I’m happy to know that my $4.99 pants are well made 🙂
The “second-hand” stars seem to be aligning for me this weekend! Whoopee!
And now, when I go back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks away, at least I’ll be smiling when I glance down at my PANTS!
by Heather Plett | Aug 21, 2005 | Uncategorized
I have a happy heart tonight. It’s late, and I should be sleeping, but the kids are gone for a sleepover (thanks to ccap and her boy for taking them!), we just got home from date night, and my head and heart and stomach are full and happy. We went for dinner at a nice restaurant, and then went to see The Interpreter at the cheap theatres (great movie). It’s nice that, after twelve years of marriage, we still enjoy each other’s company. I hope to say the same in another twelve years, and then twelve years after that, and so on, and so on.
There are lots of other reasons for the sappy headline. Nothing earth-shattering, just lots of warm fuzzies that make life satisfying and fulfilling.
I’m just wrapping up two weeks of holidays. On the way back from Alberta last weekend, we camped in the Qu’Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan. It’s lovely countryside. We had fun tenting with the kids, eating our picnic supper, giggling around the picnic table, and cuddling up on air mattresses in the tent. Yeah, now and then I miss the camper (we haven’t sold it yet, but we’re not using it because we can’t pull it with the car), but I really enjoy being back in a tent again. There’s something so cozy about it. And simple.
When we got back, we set to work around the house. I got most of the painting done (the trim on the outside of the house) and Marcel got the brick sidewalk built beside the house. I also spent some time cleaning the house – not as much as I’d hoped, but enough to feel like it’s a decent start on all this clutter.
Yesterday, we drove up to Riverton (about an hour and half from the city) to visit my brother Dwight, s-i-l Lorna, and their two boys. It was a delightful day. We had a weiner roast for lunch, hung around their yard all afternoon, watched the kids play on the trampouline (sometimes with the sprinkler going underneath), then went next door for pizza. “Next door” are Lorna’s brother and s-i-l, who run an organic bakery, and they have a big outdoor brick wood-burning oven. On the weekends in the summer, they sell the most amazing pizza on the face of the earth. You can watch them bake it in the oven. We go there at least once a summer for pizza night, and usually invite a bunch of friends from church to join us. This year was no exception – a whole gang of them showed up to hang out with us and eat pizza. Yum, yum.
And this afternoon, I had fun hanging out with Nikki and Julie. We went shopping, but thankfully not to a mall. This was the kind of shopping I can handle – Ten Thousand Villages (a very cool store full of fair trade arts and crafts from all over the world) and Value Village (second-hand heaven). To my delight, I actually came home with a pair of pants from Value Village for $5.99 that FIT AND FEEL GOOD! I HATE buying pants (my body just seems too lumpy for the style of most pants), so when I find a pair that I like, it feels like cause for celebration. The amazing thing was, I didn’t even try these on in the store – just decided to take a chance.
So there you have it – my holidays. Nothing momentous, just lots of good moments strung together. As I reflect upon it, I realize that what made the time off so good was that it was full of relationship moments. We didn’t spend much money, didn’t see any amazing sites or come home with any new possessions, but we had a great time connecting with alot of people that we care about. We spent time with all of the members of my family, hooked up with several friends (including some, like Julie and Bruce, that we don’t see often), and most of all, hung out with our girls and enjoyed their company.
I guess that’s what life is all about – finding people to connect with along the way. I think seeing the movie the Interpreter brought that home to me tonight. At the end of the movie, you’ve seen how much pain and despair people have to bear, but you still feel hopeful, because once in awhile, along the way, they (and you) find someone to connect with. And that makes it worth taking the next step. Even when you lose someone you really love, you realize the pain was worth it, because at least you knew love.
D’ya think I should write for Hallmark? 😉
