Warning: Whiny Post Ahead

Chasing the Bunny

And I do not mean the Easter Bunny.

I’m talking about the stupid, pink drum-banging Energizer Bunny whose image is making me want to beat my head into a pile of melons…or something like that.

Do you ever have weeks, days, minutes that sap all the available energy in your given space, making it difficult to even form the most rudimentary of thoughts?

It’s been one of those times around our house. The only thing I can figure that may have brought it on was the relaxed and meandering chat that my husband and I were having about where we’d like to take the family for a nice vacation sometime soon . . . next day, total chaos.

See what happens when you start thinking about beaches and snorkeling and sand and sipping mai tais while watching your kiddies swim with the sharks?

All hell breaks loose.

Not to diminish the seriousness of our situation, but a family emergency landed us in the ER for most of Saturday evening, followed up by a night of worrying, tossing and turning. And although much thought was put into the decision to go ahead and have our planned “family” party for McRae on Sunday afternoon, we were probably stepping on ice way too thin to pull it off.

But we did. We donned our happy faces.

Much spaghetti was slurped up with messy lips (well, not you Grandma!) and birthday candles were even blown out (10 of them!). Presents were ripped open, toothy grins and thank you’s were given freely and happily and all the guests went home around 7. At which point, my brain turned to mush and tried to connect the neurons that had lost their way in the previous night’s worry-fest.

And as lovely as it was, the next day (filled with the normal obligations like getting kids to and from school on time, cleaning up after the party and running errands) was capped off with a trip to Seattle for myself, my mom and our dear family friend to attend the Seattle Arts and Lecture Series which featured famous former New Yorker cover artist Art Speigelman, the first Pulitzer Prize winning “comic strip book” recipient. He was also named one of the “100 Most Influential People” by Time in 2005, but really, I was most impressed with his chain smoking and work on the Garbage Pail Kids cards that secretly made their way into my contraband little hands in the 5th grade much to the disgust of my mother.

After a night of rarely indulged in sophistication (and wine and crudités and adult conversation), I was home.

And then I collapsed, again.

And another day rolled around, a little less worried about our family emergency, but a little (okay A LOT) exhausted from the past five days of feeling like that damned Energizer Bunny on speed.

And the day pulls a fast one on me. The day when all I want to do is wallow under the covers and listen to the gentle pitter-patter of the Northwest rain. We break previous high temperature records. Sun, glorious sun which has been missing from these parts for what seems like eons, shines down on us and heats up the remaining piles of snow so that they are no more than puddles, patches of wetness that make you question if all that winter wonderland last week even happened. Or, are you completely nuts?

Tomorrow it all starts back up again, and continues for a few more days until hopefully, my batteries die. Or need to be recharged, or tossed out and replaced with more powerful, longer lasting ones. Whatever comes first.


Suddenly, that beachy vacation is sounding mighty nice.