Survival Mode

I have a friend who’s said to me on more than one occasion that she feels like she’s in “survival mode” all the time.   Yes, our lives are busy, but we should each have a bit of time to ourselves, or with our spouses to reset or just catch our breaths.    To hear that someone feels like that never happens in their life makes me sad.

I have a happy life with a happy husband and two happy children.   We have an old dog who is sometimes cranky, but she mostly is like that when small hands move rapidly towards her and scare her.    We have a caring and loyal extended family and our friends are second to none.    And, we have time.  

I don’t feel like I’m in survival mode.   Some weeks I feel like there isn’t a break coming for days, what with the way I tend to pack my schedule, but I can see to a point where I’ve got a day in the near future to catch my breath.    I don’t know what it would be like to feel like the work and coordination of our lives as a family was never ending from waking to sleeping day in, day out.

Hopefully my friend will find some relief in the near future.   That phrase “burning the candle at both ends” has always given me a vivid mental image.   It must be hard to live like that.  

The Big Boy Update:  My daughter is going through a serious whining phase.   It’s on and off, but when it’s on it’s on ferociously.   The other day my son said in a calm voice as he headed to the refrigerator, “I’m tired of all this whining”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   My daughter had a biopsy today on those pesky bottom bumps.   There was a pre-numbing cream that sat on her dermis for an hour and then she was enthralled with the needle that numbed her.   We had to hold her down to keep her still for the punch biopsy.    She complained loudly, but in the end the only thing that she was upset about afterwards was that one of the assistants was pushing on her tummy.   Tonight she doesn’t even care about the incision other than it itched and when would the stitches come out?