February 26, 1986
Pick up a magazine, turn on a talk show, listen to a friend — and sooner or later (probably sooner) you will hear the advice to “Take One Day At A Time”. This sounds great. However, I think none of these people have children who join sports teams, a job where they want to know when you are taking your vacation, or relatives who request your presence at weddings six months from now.
Although the snow is still threatening and I haven’t even looked for the summer clothes in the attic, we have already spent hours trying to schedule all the events members of my family want to participate in this summer. We have one traveling to India for seven weeks, another attending three or possibly four conferences in less than six weeks, and a third who has to fit his activities around three weeks of band camp.
There are announcements arriving almost daily about sign ups for soccer, baseball, softball, swimming and a few sports I’ve never heard of. In addition the relatives want to know when we are coming to visit (or when they can come and stay a while) and I am trying to schedule some work to be done on the house.
None of this lends itself to the “one day at a time” philosophy.
I remember when summer was a time of relaxation. A time to spend with your family. The only time I spend with my family is driving them to the next event. My children think nothing of committing me to picking them up from one camp in the Laurel Mountains at 10 pm and after a three hour drive home (they slept all the way) getting up the next morning and driving another two hours to a conference in northern Pennsylvania. If you protest you hear “I could drive if you would only let me!” or “If I had my own car you wouldn’t have to bother.”
There is only one bright spot on my horizon. If all the plans go as intended, and I can schedule all the vacations at work, there is a remote possibility that all the kids will be out of town at one time and maybe (?) my husband and I will get a few days alone. Of course I’m not going to plan on anything – I’m just taking “One Day At A Time”.
GCB