Little known blogger Julie Pippert was swamped by a big wave of life yesterday. When she surfaced---thanks to swimming help by her Labrador retriever---she noticed she was missing a veterinary appointment, two return phone calls, more than half the blogs in her feed reader (count now well over 100), a multitude of email and a promised blog post."I think it just sank to the bottom of this vast sea," she said sadly and resignedly, beginning to hum, "My Heart Will Go On," the popular Celine Dion song from the movie Titanic.
The wave, which Ms. Pippert refers to as a mini tsunami, began with over-reaching expectations and overcommitment. "I think a lot of people get sucked under the tide of plans and goals," she said, "Some never come back up. I'm just glad I resurfaced. I'm going to seize this second chance and scale back."
Her scaling back process began yesterday afternoon when, instead of reading the accumulated blog posts in her feed reader, she sat and played a game of Battle At Sea with two six year olds. It continued yesterday evening when she watched American Idol instead of writing a blog post, reading blog posts, replying to emails, or working on any of her articles or stories.
"I know I'm letting some people down, or taking without giving, but I guess fair is a place for ferris wheels, not a state of being," she said, "I want to keep up with everything and everyone but, well, I'm only one person and I guess I have to be realistic. I hope everyone knows I care and am sorry I'm not there right now."
Ms. Pippert plans to spend today having lunch with her daughter at school, attending a meeting, and catching up with laundry, which she refers to as the Multi-colored Menace, and fears its evil intentions with regard to overtaking the house.
"When the laundry gets this out of control I start having nightmares about being attacked by slithering socks wrapping their cottony selves all around me, crushing me. I think I saw that in a movie once, but in the movie it might have been snakes."
Copyright 2008 Julie Pippert
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Comments
(You realize I'm kidding. Deep breaths, friend: don't be tied in knots by obligation.)
How did I go so long without discovering you?
I think the scale is heavily weighted with what you've given already - you take as much as you need!
(not that you need my permission or anything)
So rest. Catch up with those real-life demands. We'll be here.
xxoo
And it just would be so out of character for me if I didn't suggest a pedicure as well.
Just kidding. I loved the post, I must say. You do an amazing job of managing time, and we all aspire to do it so well some day.
I stayed up until past midnight last night blogging and whatnot. Dumb!
Yeah, I stole that from Aunt May, but still...
Searing Sam Jackson in my head yelling, "Muthuf*cking socks on a plane!"
Then, like that avatar, he turns to Harry Potter and screams, "ParselSock, Muthereffer - Do you speak it?!"
Ooooo.K. I miss you.
Multi-colored Menace. Love it.
Good luck with the swimming.
There it is!
ouch.
Liv thinks that you need to take a break. Not too long, but you need to just be and not worry and not blog if there is no time. Liv would be happy to invent bullshitsical posts in a voice that mimicks your own that outwardly sound as if they are tackling the great questions of our time, but really would sort of be inane and lengthy for no apparent reason.
So, if you ever need a break, kindly submit your request for bad writing to madnessisay at gmail dot com.
lurve,
your pal livi
Responsibility is overrated. ;)
Now go take a bubble bath.
And I don't want to talk about the number of posts waiting for me on my goggle reader right now.
I will be doing the same this weekend. Life.
Feed reader be damned!
Heidi :)
I just feel this whole sock thing? Going somewhere.
;)
Thanks all!
Also, Chicky Chicky Baby suggests a bubble bath, to which I add, with a nice glass of muscat canelli from Sister Creek vineyards.