You Deserve a Break Today

Remember the old McDonald’s jingle from the ‘70s and ‘80s: You deserve a break today at McDonald’s.

Sometimes I have to remind myself about the main point of this blog, and it’s that I recognize that I am a mom who can’t get it all done – but hopefully, I can enjoy what I do, when I’m doing it. Yesterday was one of those overcast/partly rainy days that was a tad on the humid side – nothing horrible, but enough that if I had run, I would have been covered in sweat from head to toe very quickly. I decided that I would take the day off and give myself a well deserved break when I woke up at 10 am. My son was with my parents, and my husband let me sleep in. I can’t remember the last time I slept in that long – it was glorious!

So my husband and I decided to watch Parenthood (a tv show that is fabulous), and by the end of the night, we had seen 5 full episodes (about 45 minutes without commercials). Not productive, but very enjoyable – and neither of us have just completely wasted a day away in a long time. I will admit that my husband did do some early morning work for a few hours, and I did some laundry, but nowhere near the level of efficiency of some of my other recent days that are jammed with to dos.

As you may have noticed, I took a break from blogging for a few days. I always have something to write about, it’s just a matter of dedicating time to sit in front of the computer, uninterrupted. Even this morning, after dropping little C off at daycare, I met a girlfriend for a run/walk along the lake. It is gorgeous outside – and if you can swing it – go outside, take a 15 minute or 30 minute break. Walk around, enjoy the sunshine, the blue skies, the nice breeze. Whatever you do, allow yourself this short break to relax, rejuvenate, and enjoy the beauty of the world.

I think I have mentioned before that I’m reading a book about becoming complaint-free, and recently I’ve noticed that I’m really hard on myself. I’ve always known that I am my toughest critic, but now I am really trying to release that control, and cease the self-criticism, and enjoy the moment. When people compliment me, including my husband, I have to take a moment, remind myself that it’s okay to hear and accept nice things about myself, and then respond with a “thank you” instead of just shrugging it off, denying it, making a joke, etc. You might think my upbringing was less than standard, but in fact, it’s just the opposite, I have loving, caring, open, and supportive parents. Yes, they pushed me to do my best, but they always loved to celebrate success and even good tries with me.

As you know, I’m a work in progress – it’s not easy, but I know the end result, or even the journey will help me enjoy life to its fullest. I’d like to share a cute story about my son with you – yesterday afternoon, my husband and I were at home with our son. He is infatuated with transportation, and particularly enjoys busses and trains. He was pretending to wait at the bus stop, and we were lined up next to him. All of a sudden, he leans forward, looks to the left, and exclaims, “The bus is coming!” It was so adorable, and in that moment, I was thankful that my husband and I have the time to play with our son, watch his imagination at work, and witness cute moments like that. I know that at some point, we will both be working and not be able to enjoy special family time on any given afternoon. I am lucky.

Which leads me to my five daily gratitudes:
1. Exercising on the lake front – especially on a beautiful day like today, it’s so nice to have a path where I don’t have to inhale auto fumes, and I can walk, run, rollerblade, or bike down with a friend.

2. Beautiful days – in fact, today is so beautiful, I think I’ll walk to the library and pick up my book for my business women’s book club meeting at the end of this month. It’s about 2 miles roundtrip, and a wonderful reason to get more exercise in today.

3. A child’s laugh – as I was hanging out with my friend today, there was a nanny and a little boy about 2 yrs old, and she was tickling his belly and he had that great laugh that little kids have – a part giggle, part hysterics type laugh that is contagious!

4. Watching parents interact with their kids and having fun – as I was waiting for my friend this morning, a soccer organization called Lil’ Kickers was having their classes out on the lawn at the park. It was adorable to watch 18 month olds and 2-3 year olds play games, do some drills (and I use that term loosely) and just have a blast doing it together.

5. My mom – I have a saying that she inspired: You can’t spell smother without mother. Just the past few days, she’s been very sweet and loving, or schoompie as we refer to it (thanks to Seinfeld), and I’m glad that I have parents who are so open about their feelings, and loving and supportive. I know that I’m lucky to have my parents in town – and for little C to be so close to them, and for us to have free babysitters anytime. I am glad that I was able to help my mom with my Dad’s birthday party on Monday – especially because I missed his party last year due to work, and vowed that work would never come before special family events again. This year we had a blast, enjoyed good food and wine, and had a hard time refusing leftovers (I’m talking delicious chocolate cake) due to calorie concerns – but I did it. I’m just glad we were all together.

I hope you enjoyed my stories, and that you share some of your well-deserved taking a break stories with your friends (and here!). One of my favorite movies from the ‘80s is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; and Ferris sums it up nicely when he said, “Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” So take a break, go out there, enjoy this beautiful day, and enjoy some time to yourself or with some friends/family. Let me know how it goes.