Mommy Time

Darn that Protestant work ethic and my Puritan ancestors! They have doomed me to run through the day trying to check off items on the to do list that runs through my brain like an endless tape: I should be applying for jobs, I should be writing, I should put away the boys' laundry, I should neaten up my room, I should put another load of laundry in.

That's why it was so great for me to escape with a friend yesterday to get a pedicure. I'm not normally a pedicure kind of girl. In fact, I've never gotten a pedicure in my life but I got a pedicure for my birthday (seven months ago) so off I went with my friend Diane yesterday to be pampered.

We spent about an hour having our feet soaked, scraped and beautified. We chatted and we read People magazine. By the time I emerged, the to do list had been replaced in my head by useless trivia about who is dating who in Hollywood and I had beautiful hot pink toenails.

We spent a nice day leisurely having lunch and we stopped by the library and visited a friend where we sat in her kids' new tree house and pretended we were 12. I lay back and looked at the pine tree where the tree house is built against the blue sky. The to-list felt a million miles away.

Then I came home again and my boys had miraculously done their reading and worked on their workbooks. It turns out I am not as essential as I think to the running of the household! Yahoo! I managed to throw in a load of laundry and make some dinner but the to-do list still remained as background noise.

If I could relax at home I could take more advantage of our beautiful yard and our pool. We never seem to never make it out there until late in the the afternoon because I'm too busy playing catch-up with household chores. I'm also always trying to find time to write (darn that writing!) or to apply for jobs so I can only give myself about 10 minutes of reading the newspaper before I realize I should be using that time more productively.

I guess that endless tape helps me stay on track but it also keeps me from having too much fun. Now instead of showing off my beautiful toes at the beach or swimming pool, I'm typing away in the office. Maybe I'm not cut out for the so-called "staycation." I'm ready for a real vacation instead. When you're on the beach, that to do list eventually disappears. At least until you're home again.