time out

{three dimensions of time
by rima bueno- neenah paper contest entry}

When hurricane Earl was barreling towards Cape Cod on Thursday, my husband and I made the tough decision to continue with our plans to fly to Chicago for one of my best friend's weddings. Thursday was a day of checking and rechecking the weather, over and over again, looking for a sign that Earl wasn't going to be that bad. I swear, I lost half a day's work trying to make a decision. You see, our house is right on the water and my parents' house is only a mile or so inland. I wasn't worried too much about the house because there wouldn't be anything we could do about it, but I was very conflicted about leaving my young children. Sure they would be with their grandparents, who they adore. But, I still felt weird about leaving them in a hurricane. We decided to batten down the hatches just in case and wait for the nightly news to make a decision. Our sailboat had to be moved and tied down, the porch furniture had to be put away, the umbrella came down, plants came inside, and our grill was now in our living room. By the time the six o'clock news came on, it finally became clear that more than likely, Earl would not pack as big a punch as feared. We rushed around packing for the wedding, and for the kids, and finally fell into bed. 

On Friday morning we left for the airport at 6:30 a.m. drained, and exhausted after the stress of the work week and the added stress of hurricane uncertainty and preparation. When we arrived in Chicago, instead of our planned sightseeing, we climbed into the queen size bed and promptly fell asleep for two hours. 


I learned a valuable lesson this weekend. From now on, I am going to try to face decisions head on. I have a tendency to hem and haw. To look at problems from all angles, even inventing some as I go along. I poll everyone I know, often calling my mom three or four times to go over the same issue. I am always so mentally drained after a big decision. If I had just decided to stick with the plan or to wait until the latest newscast possible before stressing out, I would have had a lot more energy to enjoy the wedding. 

Even though I have not been in school for years, September always feels like the beginning of a new year to me. What better time to work on reducing my stress, on making definitive choices and sticking with them, on trying not to second guess myself? I'm sure when the next dilemma pops up, I'll be back to my old ways, but I'm going to try to remember that things always work out, one way or another.

p.s. The clock image is from a cool contest that Neenah Paper is hosting. You can get a fun kit of parts from them to create your own clock using their paper. Check it out here.