Leaves in Their Hair

Despite late nights, I am slightly behind on my NaNoWriMo project. My tailbone is still tender. My blog reader is swollen with blogs left unread and uncommented on. Thanksgiving is this week, and my Christmas shopping isn’t even started.

This Friday, I felt overwhelmed and teary and wondered if I was taking on too much.

This Friday, Ryan and I tucked the kids safely into the arms of Grandma and Grandpa and drove up to our old college campus, tickets to a basketball game in our pockets and the possibility of a football game on the horizon.

This Friday, I flat ironed my hair without worrying about little fingers finding the scorching ceramic and left my laptop at home without worrying about my to-do list and painted my fingernails without worrying about putting on gloves.

That last one might have been a mistake, as the wind on our walk to the Breslin Center was chillier than I had anticipated.

Even with cold hands, there’s something about being away for the night that makes the responsibilities of home feel far away, something that makes laughter easier and lighter and the decision about what to have for dinner seem like the most pressing concern of the night (Pesto Bruschetta, because I love a delicious appetizer, if you’re curious.)

With a voice hoarse from cheering on the basketball team and holding a conversation over the reverberations of an eighties band, we returned home, and I felt rejuvenated.

Abbey's smile seemed brighter than when we left on Friday, sparkling sweetly with her excitement about her sleepover.

Dylan's head still fit perfectly into the side of my neck, and I easily forgave him for Saturday night's sleeping drama.

There are e-mails to answer and posts to write and paths to follow my characters down, as they stubbornly refuse to behave how I’d planned, yet I spent most of Sunday making gingerbread men and playing outside and pulling leaves out of Abbey’s hair (and Dylan’s mouth, if I’m being honest.)

Our responsibilities haven’t lessened.

No one did my laundry while we were gone.

I made three different lunches on Sunday.

Yet I feel ready for the week in a way I haven’t in a long time, making shopping lists and plans for the kids and writing lists with anticipation instead of dread.

Who knows? Maybe we’ll even find time to jump in another pile of leaves.

this week's prompt was "I am feeling..."

(inspired by a Soleil Moon Frye tweet)

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