Ready to Run

I hate to call it a 'dirty little secret' or a 'professional hazard,' but it is: housewives (Can we come up with a better term, please?!) do not have to wake up, shower immediately, and dress for the day down to their shoes -- and often they (we, as in the royal we) do not. We put it off until everyone else has had a shot at some hot water, found their socks, coats, backpacks, and gym clothes, eaten breakfast, made sack lunches...We put it off, in short, until we are due for our first break, which usually happens when the door closes and everyone is gone.

Then we're faced with a new dilemma: what's the hurry? I can clean the breakfast dishes and transfer laundry in my pajamas if I delay opening the blinds. I can check my blog, do the crossword, straighten the living room, make some phone calls, do the bills...Pretty soon it's 10:30 in the morning and we're still debating when to take a shower and get dressed, or, worse yet, a child calls from school and needs something, no time to shower -- throw some clothes on and go, now!

I know that not all 'housewives' are this easily distracted. When I run the carpool in clothes hastily thrown on from last night's heap I see well-coiffed, stay-at-home mothers, already neatly dressed and accessorized, their make-up carefully applied. These women are few and far between, but they are out there, and I don't begrudge them their superiority. They've earned it. It's not easy to be so on top of things at 7:30 in the morning. I salute them.

These women are setting a good example for me, which I appreciate, but they do remind me (however unintentionally) of my own unkempt appearance. They are ready to go from school curb to board room (okay, I may be exaggerating...but they are ready to talk to the principal, if necessary) while I am hesitant even to duck into Wal-Mart.

So yesterday, while contemplating my goals in light of my new 'strength' iniative (see last post), I decided that the greatest change I could make in order to get more out of each day and feel good about myself would be to start the day READY for anything. Rather than being the last one in the shower I would be first, and the first dressed, too. I had my shoes on before anyone else was even awake. That was over two hours ago. It's not quite 9:00 am and I have already accomplished more today than I did through half of yesterday.

When I came downstairs to make a hot breakfast for everyone, I noticed yesterday's newspaper on the table and realized: hey, my shoes are on. I can walk down the driveway and get today's paper and have it sitting on the table for Scott to read while enjoying his eggs. (Aside: He often complains that he never even sees the paper.) I know it's a small, small thing, to be able to go outside, but I can't tell you how free I felt.

When my son Tom came into the kitchen he asked, "What's gotten into you, Mom?" When my husband came downstairs he asked, "What's gotten into you, Cheryl?"

It's all because of clean hair, clean clothes, and, most importantly, SHOES.