Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Thanks To Two Wire Hangers, A Pasta Server, BBQ Tongs, And A Pair Of Scissors, I Cleared Out A Vacuum Clog The Size Of A Chihuahua. What A Rush!

And just like the dawn of a new day, or flu season, Positively Minutiae has returned.  It's been an interesting journey getting to this point.  I drafted a few 'I'm back!' posts, but never felt like they were 'Publish' button-worthy.  They just seemed to ramble on about laundry and dog hair - which are, for better or worse, major parts of my day-to-day existence.   But, I felt like there was more to share - I certainly had more going on inside my head than that and I spent weeks months trying get my thoughts to line up in some kind of logical order so I could assess my situation and get clear on where I was at this point in life.  And in between dinner, laundry, family schedule coordinating (which is, at times, like working in the air traffic control tower at a major airport), dog walking, dog hair removing, vacuuming up dog hair, picking up dog poop, buying/throwing dog toys (guess who got a new dog for Christmas?), grocery shopping, toilet cleaning and the like, it hit me.   I'm at a weird place in life.

This age.  Mid Late-forties.  I don't feel old, but I don't feel all that young either.  My kids are in high school, we have college tours on our calendar now, and I have what some consider to be gray hair although I prefer to look at is a more of an ash blonde, thank you very much.  I see a lot of road behind me.  But I also like skinny jeans, I like strappy high heels, I text (with emoticons if necessary) and Instagram, I listen to current music (although I will never understand dub step) - I'm not at the end of my road.  I even want to have another career.  It's a great/scary/exciting/worrisome/fun/challenging place to be in life and I think that it's highly under-talked about.  I'm hoping Positively Minutiae can fill that gap.

I know I'm not the only one at this place in life.  There are a lot of us out here.  But we're under-represented in the blog world.  When I search the Internet, I can't seem to find blogs talking about this strange and wonderful transition period.  There are a ton of sites for little kid moms - I must say, there simply aren't words to convey how very glad I am that I had Eliza and J.D. before the pressure of Pinterest-worthy parenting became a thing.  And there are a surprising number of blogs for fashionable, fun retirees.  I think it's so cool that someone well into their AARP subscription would jump into the blogosphere - kudos.  But, as far as finding something aimed at those of us in our mid-forties or fifties?  (crickets)

It's strangely like being a teenager again - stuck between childhood and adulthood - only now our zits are wrinkles and we find ourselves parenting through curfews and finals and varsity games; knowing all the while this is only a temporary stage and we'll need to fill a big space in our lives when those activities are no longer a part of our family calendar.  It's a happy and sad place, but a place that if experienced with as much peace and presence as we can muster, we'll emerge from satisfied and ready for the next chapter.  I think.

As usual, I will continue to try to find the humor in it all and to always be grateful.  On that note, I'm off to defrost some meat.


gratitude:  the smell of Otis' (our new dog) neck, quiet mornings with the kids home in bed, a clean kitchen, quality hand lotion.

thanks and love.


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