Riding Life’s Sine Wave

I have really been rolling the last few days, sometimes up and sometimes down, always trying to stay encouraged.  I was so very tired this past weekend, but was determined to fix a corn pudding, fresh string beans, and the turnip greens for our dinner with dad.  Everything turned out wonderfully—the fresh white corn was really good in the corn pudding, the string beans had little diced red potatoes in them, and the turnip greens were even better than the ones I previously cooked on my trial run—culinary perfection and a small boost for my domestic self.  And as my dad served himself a second helping, he looked at me and asked, “Did you fix these turnip greens?  They are really good.”  I was beaming.  The ham and macaroni and cheese that my dad made, the deviled eggs that my sister made were especially good, as was everything that was prepared.  The lemon Bundt cake that my dad was going to make turned into this gorgeous yellow layer cake with the most exquisitely iced homemade chocolate frosting.  I kept looking at that cake all through dinner, so deeply chocolate and decadent looking, and yes, it was as delicious as it looked.  My dad is an awesome cook, attentive to every detail of preparation, taste, and presentation.  Enjoying the fellowship of all who were blessed to gather around the table made me feel alive and renewed, so appropriate for a beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon.  The struggle of trying to get showered and dressed became a distant memory, and even though I was sort of hurting and moving really slowly, I praised the fact that I was able to move, and basked in the grace and blessing of being with family.

Monday was a different story; I felt like I’d been run over by a Mack truck.  I had definitely crested down a steep sine wave and was now in the belly of the curve.  Even breakfast and a cup of coffee did not help.  After Duke left for work, instead of sitting up like I usually do, I fell back asleep.  Thank goodness for alarm clocks and snooze buttons!  Somehow I became alert enough to see to it that Jalen got up and off to school in good fashion, and then it was lights out.  No Morning Joe or Good Morning, America; no episodes of Andy Griffith, The Waltons, or Dr. Quinn, some of my favorite reruns to watch during the day.  Not even an In the Heat of the Night, Gillespie/Bubba fix…  Dreamland was calling my name.  I slept all day long, only moving to pull myself up off of the couch to go to the bathroom.  My muscles were so tight and sore, and being stretched out on the couch like a slumbering bear in hibernation was just what my body needed to lift me out of that valley.  By the time Jalen got home, I was up to greet him, and see that he got on to doing his homework.  He wanted to go outside for a little while before getting started, and because he worked so well on his rough draft for an English project all week during spring break, I let him.  He came back in and got started on his work without complaint—read, and began working in earnest on the final draft of his project—an ABC book about World War I.  Yay!  Back to riding the sine wave, moving on up. 

 

About 8:30 pm, screeeeech!  “Mom, I’ve got a science project due Wednesday, a 3-D model of a cell, and I need a Styrofoam ball.”  The sine wave just plummeted with quick velocity.  I sent him to wake up his dad and explain to him what he needed, and with Duke being tired and in a grumpy mood, I could see that Jalen was fighting a losing battle.   So here comes mom to the rescue, waking him up and pleading for them to go to Wal-Mart and get the ball and other needed supplies so that we are not scrambling Tuesday night.  What I was really wishing and was slightly tempted to do was to take Jalen and go myself, but I knew that was wishful, foolish thinking.  I asked Jalen when the project was assigned, and of course he said the teacher gave the assignment out today.  I am thinking to myself, “No teacher in his or her right mind is going to assign a project this involved with only a two day turn around.”  Meanwhile, I am fuming and praying, and Duke gets up and takes him to Wal-Mart at 9:00 pm.  Oh, the sacrifices we make for our children!  But at least he is ready to complete his work on Tuesday night.

Tuesday evening, we get dinner on quickly after school—beef ribs, lima beans, and rice—and he jumps right on his homework.  The sine wave is still moving up, with only a few wobbles here and there as he writes his report, gathers up the things he is going to use for the organelles inside of the cell, and we figure out how to cut the Styrofoam sphere without messing it up.  In the midst of our flow (I’ve almost got the ball cut; Jalen is fashioning his mitochondria, Golgi body, nucleus…), I get a text from Jordan, 8:00 pm.  “Y’all are coming to the athletic banquet tomorrow night?”  TOMORROW NIGHT?  “You never mentioned this, son.”  “I didn’t?  I’m sorry. I meant to.  I really hope you all can come.”  “It is very short notice, but we will try our best to make it.”  “Thanks.  I love you, mom.”  (In his defense, Jordan is very busy with classes and studying, the titular role in a play, and working a graveyard shift job at UPS.)  With Styrofoam pieces and chips of glitter from the Christmas ornament we cut in half for the nucleolus all over me, Jalen and I get back to work.  I typed his report for him while he finished his project.  Though he waited until the last minute, he really did a nice job, I thought, on his paper and his animal cell.  Yes, I did email the teacher to ask when the project was assigned, and like I thought, it was assigned before the break.  And yes, there will be a consequence for his not being truthful.  When he went to bed at 10:00, the project was complete, sitting on the kitchen table, on tripod legs made of push pins (very creative, son!), replete with the long skewers he insisted on using to label the cell parts.  I am so glad he woke up this morning with a refreshed mind which was more amenable to my suggestion to shorten the skewers.  The last thing he did before going to the bus stop was to shorten the sticks, and I am happy I didn’t fuss with him about doing so.  It was after all, his project, and his grade. 

We’ll see how the wave ride ends today.  I am looking forward to going to lunch with a good friend, something I rarely do, go out somewhere during the day on my own, because I can’t drive myself.  I took my shower early, before Jalen left (just in case, always wary of falling), and when I got out of the shower on my own, I briefly felt like I was getting ready for school.  Boy, I felt the momentary rush of having a sense of purpose to take out into the world.  So missed…  I have my clothes laid out and ready to put on, and my game plan for getting out of the house independently is also ready.  I am looking forward to some good food and conversation at El Tapatio.  Fiesta time!  I am also praying that Duke will be able to make it home in time for us to be able to go to the athletic banquet tonight.  Even if we miss the dinner, I’d like to be able to be there to see the program.  Last year’s banquet was very nice, and I believe in supporting my children and celebrating their accomplishments.  Hopefully, those memories will stay with them and push them forward through their lives, even when I am no longer here on this Earth.

Wheeeeee!  Riding the sine wave has its ups and downs, and I am determined to hold on, cheering through the fun dips, hanging on and pushing through the scary turns.  Life is indeed good.

Before he decided to shorten the sticks