Thursday, July 14, 2016

Don't bother starting the darn merry-go-round

Are you familiar with the feeling of just wanting all the busy-ness to go away? Do you ever feel that way before everything actually starts?

I don't even want to get on the merry-go-round of activity that is my next week. I realize that it is my introversion speaking, and I know I will have fun/accomplish things. Yet it is likely that Saturday will turn into one all-day nap in order to make the following week possible.

Event one: After church Sunday, a baby shower for a lovely young lady I've known since she was eight years old. As a bonus, her mom, a friend of mine who moved to the wilds of "up north" Wisconsin (defined as anyplace more than ten miles north of your current position) twelve years or more ago, will be there. Celebrations of new life are wonderful (in spite of silly shower games). But...people. For hours.

Event two: Tuesday night, quilt guild meeting. Joining the guild was a voluntary action on my part. It's part of my "get more plugged in to the Milwaukee and environs quilting community to build up potential customers for possible retirement long-arm quilting business" plan. But again, that means networking, which means...people.

Event three: Hair appointment after work Thursday. Generally, if I'm not feeling chatty, Peter will let me live inside my head while he works on my hair. The forty minutes waiting for the color to develop, however, is a minefield of possible social interactions. Note to self: take along kindle and bury nose in book. It doesn't always protect me, unfortunately, as there are some people (strange as this sounds) who think when you are reading, you aren't "doing something".

Event four: On my Friday half day, meet my 90 year old aunt and her daughter-in-law for lunch. This is the event I am least conflicted about. The ladies are good company, and as a bonus, we are going to the chicken place for lunch. The extended forecast doesn't reach next Friday yet, but, as has been the pattern for the last several weeks, the weekdays are set to be hot (upper 80s) and humid. Hopefully, as in past weeks, the cool down will come on Friday. If not, we'll just be sure to take a table on the wide porch on the north side of the building, out of the sun.

Event five: A class at church Sunday night. Again, this is something I actually signed up for, in spite of knowing full well that Sunday evenings are my lowest, least people-friendly, willing-to-go-out time of the week.

The irony is that there is nothing on the calendar for three weeks following, other than a TSA interview for TSA Pre. The week after that, though...four events, two on each of two different days. Agh.

If for any reason I don't show up somewhere I'm expected, the odds are my not-so-inner introvert has pulled me into my bedroom, curled me up in a ball and stuffed me under the bed. All electronic devices will be turned off, and the doorbell only works on days when both the full moon and the sun are visible in the sky at the same time while it is raining. I'll crawl out when I'm finally recharged.

3 comments:

melissa said...

I totally get this post. If I don't have at least one day with NOTHING planned, I get so worked up. Anxiety galore. Feeling your pain.

And about that TSA Pre. Funny thing. When Gary and I came back home from California (after being patted down and in my case, had my hands checked for residue of drug sorts), we automatically got put in the TSA Pre line. Not being travelers, we were clueless, but it was nice to go right through without the wait. I have no idea how we qualified.

melissa said...

The patting down stuff happened when we went from here to there. Still, strange.

Diane said...

I knew you would understand this post more than most. I *like* people, but I'm so much better liking them in small doses.

Not sure why, but my last time back from NOLA for business they just waved me over to the TSA Pre line. Would have been happier if they had done that *before* I took off my shoes and pulled out my baggie of liquid, but it was really nice not to have to wait in line.