EPo40 - part IV

EPo40 #4

A Mental Paradigm Shift

When you’re experiencing EPo40 (Extreme Parenting over 40) you find relief in the weirdest things. Never would I have ever imagined arguing with my husband on a Saturday, about who gets to wait for the car to be serviced! Lucky me… I won last week… Oh, the lovely clean environment (and good service) at my car dealership – I feel like a Queen! To be able to sit quietly and relax in one of their comfortable lounge chairs is like going to a spa! I hardly hear the ratcheting sound of the air-gun compressor. I guess I’ve become hard of hearing from all the chaos and dog & husband barking at our house! As many of you know, when you are on your 5th season of baseball, soccer, skating, band and orchestra concerts… it’s not as ‘fun’ as it used to be! I’m looking for relief anywhere I can find it!

Another wonderful treat is going to my pharmacy to pick up one of our many medications; a big line makes me well with excitement! My pharmacy now has a demo massage chair – OMG they practically have to throw me out! And I would be remiss to not mention the pure uninfluenced slow motion of workers in our post office…those people really love a slow line… me with my I-Pod – who cares! As for the rest of the line, these people have a stance that used to be me…. ! Fidgety, ornery and in complete disbelief staring-down postal clerks to finish a task in ‘slo-mo’. Now I’m finding that I relish these precious moments. What has happened to me? My Yoga classes must be finally sinking in… Since my husband has resigned himself to my ‘creative ways’ of doing things…a la dining room/work –in-progress rooms full of projects everywhere, I just leave them and enjoy my break! No guilt from my messy, neglected house! Just the other day, my son spilled a large glass of juice on our dinner table… neither one of us freaked out because we are so accustomed to this act. I guess it’s a result of years of EPo40 adventures that have anesthetized us. Should I say that’s a good thing? It probably does help my old-age induced high blood pressure, and as Martha Stewart would say, ‘and that’s a good thing’.

The International Laundress