Some have credited this quote to Winston Churchill. Some others would simply say it’s a country song by Rodney Atkins. Personally, I would call it the motto of my week. Finals week, and although officially we have one more week of classes before “official” winter break, I “final”ly (yes that’s a pun) feel like I am on the downhill slide. I am sure it is a shared sentiment, as my Facebook page has been littered with posts such as, “THIS SEMESTER IS FINALLY OVER! and boom goes the dynamite.” (Thank you to my cousin-in-law Nellie for that one! And yes, I know your grown up name is Danielle – so forgive me.) I can soon breathe a sigh of relief, yet I am grateful that the opportunity to continue my education has actually breathed new life into me. Though you took my breath away, now I want it back… for at least those 4 long awaited weeks of winter break.
As the holidays approach, I am perhaps the most ill prepared momma in the history of all mothers. I have yet to buy one Christmas gift, and when my (gosh how did that happen) 18 year old boys send me off each day with a list of demands including: “Don’t forget to buy my cap and gown”, “I am out of lunch money” and “I have to work at 11am on Saturday”, I wonder how mommies of the past survived without a calendar on their smartphone. I have been so wrapped up in end of semester homework, studying and exams, that I forgot to buy anything that gets wrapped up and put under my new and improved pre-lit Christmas tree. This week I had perhaps the worst exam of my life, which tested my confidence and left a bad taste in my mouth. Thank you Assessment Center for providing the free tootsie rolls to cure that. Yet, there are some simple things that have renewed my spirit. Walking past the library, and sneaking up on perhaps the best friend I could ever ask for, courtesy of College Math, on a day I was desperately in need to see a friendly face. A reprieve from thinking and breathing law to discuss childhood family memories with my wonderful niece at work today. Singing “Silent Night” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” at my daughter’s middle school choir concert sing-a-long finale. So as I sit in my living room by the light of my pre-lit, you weren’t all you were cracked up to be, it may have been easier to string the lights myself, on sale from Wal-Mart pre-lit Christmas tree, with no presents underneath it… I know one thing. I have the best gift of all. Too bad it’s impossible to wrap a big box of love and put a bow on it.
College math brought us together, Love will tie our bond and keep us together, as support for one another until we are being picked up by the medi-van and carried across town to enjoy our happy hour at margarita's! Karrie Minor, you are my hero! And a living example that if you just keep pushing, it will always pay off! And release that stupid exam in to the wind and let it blow away with all the other crap you deal with on a daily basis. Do not hold onto it. You are the smartest most dedicated person I know, and that exam was nothing but a mier moment in time, that does not deserve even one more breath of thought. Release to the place, where all your running around gets dropped at the end of the day, Send it off to a far away land, where all the past fights you have had with your mother now reside, and let it sail away with the end of this semester and everything that came with it. Let the excitement of 2012 which is close enough to smell, consume your mind and take presidence in your thoughts. Because in the blink of an eye... there will be a whole new semester with a whole new list of exams to be focused on. Enjoy the freedom from the countless hours of work you have put in and just breath for a little while.
ReplyDeleteDear dear Anonymous, My BFF, the streetlight on the often cracked pavement of my life, the cheese in my macaroni, the lime in my margarita, your words are exactly what I needed to hear, as usual. Fate brought us together because some higher power knew all of the cool people were born on the same day in ten year increments. Thank you for always being the one thing I can count on in this world (other than overdraft charges and the low fuel light going on in my car two minutes after I spent my last dollar). If every single person was lucky enough to have a friend like you, I am pretty sure that psychiatrists would be out of business. Thank you for saying what I needed to hear, not because you KNEW it was what I wanted to hear, but because you genuinely meant it. Your metaphors of how to let go of things are the most inspirational words I have heard in possibly my entire life!
ReplyDeletexoxo,
Karrie