off my game

I went into this Relay for Life very disorganized and feeling off my game. My partner in event organizing crime was AWOL this year. ML was up to her eyeballs in their open house for their new barn and I truly felt her absence. I wrongly assumed I could pull off the whole thing "by myself" and I may have missed the mark a little bit. The physical realization of that came was as Abby and I stood in the middle of a field trying to keep a 20 foot tent from blowing away while Mike went to borrow a hammer. Yes, I forgot to bring a hammer and our lawn chairs and our folding table. The wind was crazy and I really could have used another set of hands or three. 

 

 

The things is I, wrongly I am sure, think that I have asked enough of my Jersey Girls. Walking in the Relay is no walk in the park... no pun intended. It is difficult emotionally and physically and all these lovely ladies signed up because I asked them too. I mean we all have our own reasons why it's important to us to walk, we write them on the backs of our shirts and hold them close to our heart, but I got the ball rolling. I'm the one who said hey who wants to do this thing with me? They take time off work or sometimes work all day and then come and walk with me all night, in the dark, in their pajamas. I think that's a lot. 

 

 

The week leading up to Relay, for me, was crazy. I'm no stranger to meetings, but it isn't very often I have more than one in a week. That week I had three. Throw in Abby's last riding lesson for the season and the traditional last lesson dinner and the two cakes I baked and the 24 cupcakes. Then add that to all the regular living your life stuff like dishes and laundry and dinners and lunches and oh yeah, my full time job. I just barely made it to Friday. My plan is always to rest on Friday and one year I may actually get to, but this year wasn't it. 

So with ML dealing with the 1000 people that came through their farm and Mike's offer to help I thought everything would be okay. Turns out a large scale stressful project and working with your husband do not mix. Actually, to be honest it could have been worse. Mike hates tents and camping with a passion. The gale force winds did not help. Have you ever tried to pop up a tent that's 20feet long and about 10 feet tall when it's windy. Take it from me, the last thing it wants to do is stay still. At the end of the day the tent got set up, Abby and I did not blow away across the field with the tent clutched in our hands and Michael and I are still married, so win win I guess.

So while I was busy killing myself trying to get everything together and in my mind not doing it to my regular level of awesomeness, the event still happened and it was fine. It was great. We raised a ton of money ($125,000 for the event) and the things I forgot didn't matter. I'm sure there is a lesson in there somewhere for me.