So my friend who isn’t Shirley found out there was going to be a conflict on the day of our daughters’ dance recital. Her son, who plays baseball, had a tournament scheduled for that same day. Smack dab in the middle of the recital time. For those of you who have children or know children or were a child, you can imagine how hard this is for a parent. How do you choose which one to attend? How do you make sure the other child gets where he or she needs to be? How do you keep everyone fairly happy, feeling loved, and still stay sane?
It’s hard.
And all of these things and the logistics for the day were running through my friend’s head when she first told me about the conflict two weeks out. The girls had a makeup dance class two days later. As we sat down to visit, she told me, “Yeah, this girl at work asked me if I’d figured out what we’re going to do on that Saturday. I just put my hand up and told her, ‘Nope. Stop. This is not your week.'”
If y’all could have seen the determination on her face–I laughed of course, as did she. She pointed out she had a whole lot of other things on her plate before she could even begin thinking about the following weekend and its conflicts. So she refused to worry about something that far out.
Good for her.
And, as it turned out, the tournament was cancelled, and all of the worrying that didn’t happen (and the little that did) would have been for naught.
Good for you, Shirley. You kept breathing.
Tonight I’m thankful for this wise and witty friend of mine who keeps me laughing and inspires me and teaches me a lot about peace. And about letting things roll off my back. She’s good at the whole peace thing–despite all that life throws at her. (Which is a lot.) And I think the key to that peace might just be the fact that she prioritizes and has good boundaries. She’s not going to let that ol’ devil Anxiety steal her revival. She is smiling just about all of the time. Really smiling.
I want some of that.
May we all learn how to throw up our hands and tell the worrying and all the stressing out over things, “This is not your week.” So many times I have worried over things and situations that never came to fruition. May we all learn to let that go, and in doing that, may our hearts be lighter and our smiles a little brighter.
Go tell whatever’s worrying your future, “This is not your week.” You’ve got better things think about.
Love to all.
I Might Need A Nap 