Well… so much for five weeks! Here we are, nine months into Covid and we are in a second, modified stay-at-home order. I think I speak for most of you when I say that I am happy to see 2020 come to an end, hopeful that 2021 will bring health, happiness and prosperity. I decided to double-down and sign on a loan for new washers and dryers for The Laundry Room. Oh my goodness, how crazy!!! It looks beautiful, customers are so happy so now we just wait and see. In my next blog post, I will backtrack on my laundromat journey. For today, I wanted to share some heartfelt thoughts as the clock ticks down to Christmas and emotions are running high!
Quite regularly, I think of the old adage, “think of your eulogy and live your life in reverse”. I certainly don’t want to get to the end of my life and feel that I missed out on having fun, making memories, seeing the world and experiencing what is out there with my children and loved ones. During Covid, we have done A LOT of driving to discover new places and had irreplaceable quality time together, just the three of us. I will never forget it!
One of the biggest and most important things that I have realized in my forties is that I don’t like to pretend for a moment that I have life figured out. I used to! I used to try very hard to paint the picture that life was absolutely “perfect”. Now, I pay very close attention to being real, authentic, genuine. I love with my whole heart, smile a lot, speak the truth, avoid negativity, lean on others and am trying the very best I can. Setting that example for my children is imperative.
A frequent saying of mine is that “I am running around like a headless chicken!” I made a list of daily priorities a couple of months ago and it has 16 things on it. Haha, I know, right! How do you organize 16 things in your day and then mix in everything else that comes at you? Well, you don’t and you can’t. But you do the very best to cross off as much as you can and make it a great day. And some days, something incredibly fun and spontaneous presents itself and you drop everything to say “YES” and go and do it!!
Every two to three days it looks like a bomb went off in my house because when my children show up, they want to have their friends over and it becomes all about them all having fun. I always want to be that house — where kids can come and go, feel comfortable, eat a lot and go home feeling fulfilled. But these boys (mine and their friends), they must be respectful. Many of my dad friends have advised me on being “the heavy” which doesn’t necessarily come naturally to a woman — being authoritative, setting boundaries, standing my ground, commanding respect. It is tough, I’m not going to lie. The key is to celebrate those days where I feel like super-mom and not beat myself up for the days when everything seems to go to hell in a hand basket. It is such a gift to let go of keeping up with that pressure. I wish I could give that gift to everyone I know!
When the boys go back to their dad’s house, I am given the opportunity to tidy up and reset and then a couple days later the cycle continues again. It is too quiet when it’s just me in the house. I prefer the noise and chaos of them running around playing ball, hide-and-seek and Nerf gun fights throughout the house. I didn’t have children to be a mom only half the time. But this is my reality and I am slowly starting to accept it. That is where gratitude plays a big part in my life. I have so much to be grateful for — first and foremost, those wild and crazy little boys — but also the laundromat. As challenging as it has been to purchase and remodel it during a pandemic, I remain optimistic that things can only get better from here. One foot in front of the other no matter how slow the pace.
Thank you for following and supporting. Happy holidays and lots of love!
