And I was off the rest of the day. Off. Christmas shopping and errand running. For. The. Rest. Of. The. Day.
I am extremely thankful for days I get to get away. It isn't that I don't like being here, at home, it is just I need time out of the house in order to be happy in the house. I chose to have 4 children, I chose to stay at home with them, I chose to home school them. (Of course Sam is included in all these decisions, that is a given). I don't think it makes me a bad mom when I need to get away from them. I used to have guilt about that, but I am so over that by now. :)
I have had several outings here in Yazoo, lunch dates, mom's night out, visitors, but this was my first ALONE day since Idaho. I used to think I had a personality disorder, until a wise elder at our church in Louisville explained how "we" worked. For our personality types, we need alone time to "recharge our batteries." He was just like me, and for the first time in my life I realized how what he said was true and made the most sense. I have to have alone time to feel at peace, to feel refreshed. Some times, I will stay up an hour later than everyone else, because the house is quiet. Going to bed when the kids go to bed, feels like there is never a break. That is one reason I have always advocated an early bedtime for children. Parents need a few hours to themselves at night, without awake children.
Anyway, I sure got off track there!
I left here today around 11am. Ran some errands in town, then set off for Wal Mart! This time, trying for the closest one, 33 miles away, that I have not been to yet. A lady at church gave me EASY directions I was able to follow......mostly. She said when I exited the interstate I would be high up on the ramp, and I could see everything from there, and head straight for the store.
Can we say fog as thick as pea soup today? I could hardly see the traffic light, much less any stores or signs. I had to choose right or left, so I went left.
Wrong way.
What about the wonderful GPS? Miss Ginnifer Paisley Smith?
I think my GPS was having a PMS day.
Well, I guess it was the fog. She could not find the Wal Mart there anywhere. It never showed up in the system. Giving up, I decided to go into Jackson to the Wal Mart we went to the first time. I programmed in the info, and off we went.
And went.
Ginnifer kept changing her mind. Giving me wrong street names, telling me to turn when there were no turns.
Now, to understand this correctly, you have to realize that I have NO sense of direction. None. I am not driving around slightly turned around. I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I AM. The fog is messing up the satellite signal and I am at the mercy of a dysfunctional talking machine, whom I am blindly following because I have no other option. I can't call Sam and ask, because the first thing he would ask me is, "where are you now?" And i would have to answer, "I have absolutely no idea!"
She got me close to the second Wal Mart place, but we never found it. I DID find the Target, so I went in there and found the bar stools we were looking for for the kitchen. Scratch one item off the list! Of course, I did have to wander around for an hour just looking. :)
Back to the van, still needing Wal mart, I decided to go to the one where the cart fell over last week. The weather had cleared a bit, so we got there with minimal problems.
Third time is the charm! Third try for the third Wal mart in the third town worked! :)
(If I had had a van load of kids I never never would have done this).
I wandered more, shopped some, found everything on my list, and happily made it out to the van with an upright cart and sang so loud all the way home I didn't hear the phone when Sam called.
One thing I love about being away for several hours, is I don't have to talk. I can smile at cashiers, I can say excuse me, and thank you when necessary. But I don't have to talk. I just don't realize how much I do talk all day long, until I get a chance not to. I guess I also don't have to listen.
It is just refreshing.
I come home happy and ready to talk and listen.
So the GPS had a bad day and I was lost in three different towns. So it rained all day and the fog was terrible. So traffic was unbelievable and the stores were crowded.
I have a husband who loves me and encourages me to get out and get some alone time.
I have kids who love me and were so excited to see me when I got home.
I had a great dinner of fettuccine Alfredo with my family with all the kids sitting on the new bar stools.
We had a great family devotion with our Jesse Tree.
I am blessed.
And very thankful.
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