A year ago today, I ran the CDPHP Workforce Challenge at 36 weeks pregnant. It’s a tradition I have, to run one race while pregnant with each kid. It’s also a personal tradition of mine to do the Workforce Challenge. The hospital where I work is huge, and the race itself is huge. I can go to the race and disappear amidst the 10,000 participants and have time to myself, sandwiched in between walks to and from my car wherever I manage to find a parking spot downtown.
In order to do the race, I have to sign up in February, because the 10,000 spots fill up long before race day. I missed it a time or two because of that, and now I have a reminder in my calendar that lets me know when it’s time to sign up each year.
Except this year, in February, things were so bad that I couldn’t think about May. I couldn’t plan anything definite so far ahead. Just getting through each day took so much energy, let alone thinking about the future. So February came and went. March, too. And in April, things started to get better.
Ever since we’ve been married, my parents have supported the Chaplain and I by keeping the kids so that we can go away by ourselves about once a year.
Last year at this time, we were spending a week in Portland, Oregon together. In fact, it was the first time since I’d become a mom that I’d spent Mother’s Day away from my kids.
The trip felt like an escape for many reasons. The Chaplain was at a stressful, demanding job. I was eight months pregnant with Seven. We had a busy home life. We were tired and tense.
I’d planned the trip on the back of a trip to Portland I’d done with my dad and siblings in 2014. We’d gone to celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday by climbing Mt. Hood. The week was spent hiking, with the mountain climb in the middle.
Building on that, I hoped to revisit my favorite trails, and try one or two new ones. I also wanted to spend some time in downtown Portland, which we hadn’t had time to do on the 2014 trip. The Chaplain and I both had some ideas and recommendations for places to check out in the city. And I really wanted to see a Pacific Coast sunset.
One of the things we did at our marriage intensive was learn the Care Cycle. The idea is, you are in charge of you. When you are feeling upset, triggered, or stressed, you should do a little self care before looking to others for help.
I took the diagram they made for us and made a simple printable with a blank spot for adding personalized info to the “care package” section – those are the actions you can take to feel better. 
I made them for all the people in our family who are potentially aware enough to use it, although we haven’t finished filling everyone’s out yet.
I find that small kids meet their own needs pretty well. 
The photo above is of me in Branson, MO, wearing the pants I show how to alter below.
If you got the title reference, you know that I watch American Idol. I enjoy music reality TV. It often results in goosebumps. It’s full of feeling and movement and unexpectedly special moments. Know Pentatonix? We saw them first on the Sing Off, a show where acapella groups competed, nauseatingly hosted by Nick Lachey.
I was excited when I saw Idol was coming back. In fact, while I don’t know Katy Perry’s (the new token female judge) music well, I really like her. As a fellow PK (BOTH her parents were pastors), I feel like I “get” her. And she has such a great spirit.
Even though it had been two years since Idol last aired, the Chaplain or I would make a Randy Jackson reference almost weekly. His “For me, for you, Dawg,” just doesn’t have a better translation in American English. Also, “I don’t know, Dawg.” or “That was pitchy.”
To get back to the Sing Off, we enjoyed that show so much that when they went on tour, we bought tickets and went to the concert. I am almost embarrassed to admit it. But it was such an adventure. I was fascinated to see who else watched the show (a whole theater-full of people, as it turns out). The concert was fantastic, and sticks out as one of my favorite date nights.
Where am I going with this? *grin* Stick with me.
(Mother’s Day 2017, the first Mother’s Day since I was a mom that I spent away from my kids, except the one I was pregnant with)
I started to write a post about Mother’s Day and how difficult it can be. It occurred to me as I was writing that there was still time to do something about that.
It has been a long debunked myth that men can read minds. Yet I still remain hopeful in certain situations that this will prove to be untrue.
One of those situations is Mother’s Day.
