A yucky stomach bug found its way into the intestines of our kids this week. Like a knee-locked junior high choir, they toppled off the proverbial risers of life one at a time. Each kid went from enthusiastic student to curled in bed, clutching his/her tummy.
They each stayed home to watch movies with the pot-o-shame waiting on the floor, just in case they can’t make it to the bathroom. Everyone has been napping, logging lots of hours on potty, and listening to me read book after book.
These couch days have scratched right where the back-to-school blues itched. Any kids (or mom) who missed the lazy days of summer has had lots of lazy days this whole week.
But today, the kids all woke up pretty healthy. When everyone had breakfast and normal temperatures, we all knew it was time to get back to the grind of school. Nate and Catie, the most recent sickies, usually love school. But the idea of going back after two days in bed? Totally panicked both of them.
As Catie worried about the mounds of make-up work waiting for her, Nate earnestly told me how much he would rather “snuggle at home than go to school.”
“But you love school!” I said.
“I’m afraid I forgot how to do it.”
So, here we are, at the I’m-afraid-to-get-off –the-couch moment.
I’ve been at the afraid-to-get-off-the-couch moment with this blog. I love blogging as much Nate and Catie love school. But the past three weeks have been some of the busiest of our lives. I had to break from blogging to accomplish all the real-life stuff.
Now the busyness storm has passed, but I’m still on the couch. All week I’ve known I need to face the rustiness, the blank page, the writer’s block. Rigamortis has set into my imagination. I’ve forgotten how to do writing.
Recently I read an article about professional athletes who abuse painkillers. One dancer explained, “I have to keep on pushing. If I take even one day off from training, I regress so much. It’s so much harder to show up the next day.”
Writing is exactly like this. Take one day off, and it’s so hard to show up the next day.
I understand how Catie feels about her piles of make-up work—pretty much the same way I feel about the three weeks of family memories I haven’t documented.
But those two braved school today, and I’m braving the blank page.
Here’s to tackling life, to tackling fear, and to tackling rigamortis.
Welcome back!