Pink Ribbons Friday Round-Up

We successfully turned our backyard/dog yard into a party yard for tomorrow’s baby shower. It will work well if no one looks too closely at the quality of the grass or is bothered by flies which have come out of nowhere to drive us crazy. It is green, I will say that, thanks to the three times as many trees as I needed that a landscaper sold me twenty-five years ago. And there are birds aplenty in those trees – it’s a little like a Snow White experience back there.

In the way back of the yard are the day lilies which were perfectly blooming until a certain creature decided to cut a path through their middle. Again, we are grateful to the trees for preventing anyone from getting a full look at the day lily situation. If anyone chances a closer exploration, we’ll have to blow whistles. It’s a jungle out there, as they say, and we can’t be held responsible.

The baby shower is for my younger daughter who is unexpectedly expecting. We are glad for her, don’t get me wrong, but her situation is medically complicated and otherwise extremely challenging. It took me a good while to wrap my head around it all, as tied as I am to logic and risk assessment – for other people, mind you, not always myself. But now I am there, in the thick of it, trying to be a decent mom and not freak out which is pretty much the story of my entire 47-year parenting career.

Planning the baby shower has reminded me once again of the exquisite power of delegation. A list, a task chart, checking in, letting people who offer to help help, being open to suggestions, and letting go of the idea of having to think of or do everything myself. I did mop both the front and back porches today, something I’ve not done in 37 years of owning this house. And I did a heck of a lot of online ordering plus I pulled about 10,000 weeds. That was hard but someone else found the unicorn cupcakes. That’s big.

Unexpected things in life make you agile. You have to be deft to make U-turns, watch oncoming traffic, and make your move.You can’t be asleep at the wheel, for sure. Pass the caffeine and keep those eyes open wide.