Thursday, October 13, 2011

In the Weeds

As I looked ahead at the events on the calendar in September, I put my eye on the Costume Swap as the "just make it to... " marker. Unfortunately, the work crazy of September only got worse in October and it turns out that the Costume Swap was the least of our insanity. On top of my standard workload, my work team picked up two new assignments that need to be done by the end of the year, I found myself on the schedule for THREE professional conferences this month (thankfully 2 in Bend), and I need to squeeze in a 2 day training in Portland. It's all great opportunities, but sometimes even a pile of good can be overwhelming.

Scott's work is no more busy than usual - the standard 50 hour work week, but he's been trying to ramp up his bike training the Big Fat Tour this weekend. His training got temporarily sidelined by a busted elbow that thankfully has healed in time for him to embark on 150 miles of trail over the next 3 days. Throw in one 3am wake up for a fishing trip (no bites) and a few day trips to Portland for work, and we have a few weeks where it looks like we will just be ships passing in the night.

In the midst of all that, we started the month suddenly wrestling with some challenging decisions regarding both our work situations that have major implications for our whole family. While the situations are not totally unexpected, the magnitude seems larger than we had anticipated and it's certainly an unwelcome TIME to be figuring this all out.

We are in the weeds.

I have had more than my standard share of weepy moments these last few weeks. But even in the weeds, life keeps marching. And that means that the rhythms of our weeks bring us back to playgroup, book club, dinners with friends, and laughter over beer. In each of those encounters, I'm reminded how blessed we are to have the people around us providing wise council, encouragement, and simply a listening ear.

My new "just make it to..." date is Halloween. We should have more certainty by then, but for now we wrestle and wonder and hope and pray and try to trust.... and get up tomorrow to do it all over again.

2 comments:

Carmen Goetschius said...

Wishing you good rest tonight and so very glad you are surrounded by people who love and care for you deeply. May halloween come soon!!!!

Colleen said...

The costume swap just sounds so neat! Hang in there, my friend. Our October has been a wild ride too and I just keep thinking "One day at a time" and lo and behold we're already to the 17th. Wow. Here's to November!