Like A Phoenix Rising

 

So as I was driving to my (twice-rescheduled) dentist appointment this afternoon, I suddenly realized that this article was due yesterday.   "Crud," I thought.   "Hopefully it isn't too late.   And what the heck am I going to write about?" ...followed by these thoughts...   "Think, Brain.   Megan.   Daniel.   Surely there's something there.   I got nothing.   Shoot.   Daniel. Megan.   Nope.   Ooops, there's my exit!"  And that's when I realized, I was going to explain why I am late with my article - whether you wanted to know or not!!!

 

September has brought with it the usual "getting back into the swing of things" period, and everything is finally getting a bit more settled.   All the Back To School Nights are done.   Team Formations have been completed.   Sports have started up.   We now have somewhat of a schedule.   But what a schedule!

 

Jim insists we all do better with a bit of a schedule.   Free spirit that I like to think of myself, I am not so sure.   Daniel has soccer.   Not only is he playing for YMS, he is on the school team, which practices or has games every day after school.   YMS has 2 practices a week in the evenings and 2-4 games on the weekend - that team is part of two leagues for some reason, which means away games are possibly 1 ½ hours away.   Fortunately, he likes soccer.   Passionately!!   All his other "extracurricular" activities, like orchestra and chorus, take place during school for the moment.   Thank goodness!   Meanwhile, Megan is playing fall ball, which has one practice a week and 2 games on the weekends, in addition to a rogue practice once a week.   She is also in Girls on the Run twice a week after school, and Girl Scouts once a week after school.   Add to that OM on Sunday evening and dance on Friday night and the week is complete.   (Believe it or not, she still has one free day each week!   How that math works out is a mystery to me.)   And, my own schedule has changed.  

 

But basically, I am in the same position every mother with busy children is in: knowing where her children are, knowing when and where they need to be going, and knowing who to call if there is an aberration in plans for carpooling.   And also, preparing them nutritious meals at home and school.   Oh, not to mention the piles of laundry.   Their schoolwork.   Getting them to bed early enough so that they can get enough sleep to be focused in school the next day.

 

And that has led to way too many late nights and early mornings for me, with no recovery time (for my poor, non-morning self.)   And my body said, the heck with you - if you aren't going to take care of me, I am going to shut you down.   And it did.

 

So last Friday night, I got a migraine.   If you get migraines, I don't have to explain to you.   If you don't, well, it's much more than just a bad headache; there's four stages.   The first stage is the warning signs, which I almost always notice in retrospect... the sporadic, mild feelings of nausea throughout the day.   The second stage is the pre-migraine stage, where, if you get an aura, your vision gets all messed up and you see zigzag lines in your left periphery.   At the time, I blamed the blurry vision while reading on old age - "Darnit, I can't focus on these directions!"   It wasn't until I started seeing the zigzags that I put it all together... and knew that I had about 20 minutes until the third stage - the migraine - the debilitating headache - struck.   I was picking Daniel and a friend up about five minutes away and knew that I had to get home to the Excedrin Migraine Relief to at least partially lessen the headache.   We made it home, and I had to ask Daniel what the directions were, because I couldn't read the small print.   I told him he'd need to put himself to bed and then I laid down on the couch with a blanket over my head, where I stayed until morning.   Saturday morning brought with it the fourth and last stage, post-migraine.   This is where you feel like you're in a fog, you are completely exhausted, and your body feels achy like you have the flu.   For a day or two.   It was in this condition that I took Megan to her softball game (and somehow managed to keep the scorebook.   Jim had to take Daniel to an away soccer game simultaneously.)   After the game, I collapsed on the couch, mostly sleeping... rousing myself only for dinner.   It was too much effort to move - I didn't get up to go to bed until 5 in the morning, where I slept in.   Finally.   On Sunday, I felt much better, but still not back to 100%.   I got to see Daniel's soccer game, went shopping for groceries, and helped out at Megan's OM and that was about all I had the energy for.   I was still really tired that night.

 

So that's my old lady malady story.   And my explanation for not getting this written on time.

 

This was definitely a wake-up call.   What did I learn?   Well, for one, if I don't take care of my body, it will "take care of" me, and not in a good way.   I do not want to go through that again any time soon, nor can I afford to be sick and non-contributing for any length of time.   I need to focus on getting enough sleep, and that means seriously starting my evenings earlier, so that I can get all the stuff done that I need to do at a reasonable hour.   If I want to make muffins, I cannot start them at 10:30 like I used to.   Kids lunches have to be made before midnight.   (Wait, aren't those darn kids old enough to make their own lunches?   Oh wait, they're too busy practicing for WHATEVER to have any time left over!!   That's ok, I'd rather they be busy than bored.   They can make lunches for their own kids in a couple decades or so.)   I should probably make sure I get the recommended three squares a day and dig up those multivitamins too.