Time Bandits

“The following classrooms do not have anyone signed up for Teacher Relief tomorrow…” 

I scanned the e-mail sent from the school for the list.  Glaring at me like my mother catching me French kissing a boy on the porch, was my son’s teacher’s name.  I hadn’t signed up beforehand because I had scheduled myself as writing this week.  I couldn’t stand the guilt.  I immediately decided I would go in to staple flip books and sharpen pencils.

As luck would have it, I woke up this morning with a huge brainstorm and was frustrated I couldn’t sit down and explore my thoughts.  Hemmingway was able to write the great American novel because when he got out of bed with a hot idea, he could pour himself a cup of coffee, light a cigarette, and write until he had dug deep enough to feel satisfied.  I, on the other hand, had to make breakfasts, pack lunches, shuttle blood relatives to school, AND, now, kiss away a few hours of my time.  Gratis.

Then, I was thrown a bone.   The Professor offered to take the boys to the basketball game this afternoon.  (Our public high school was playing the top team in the county.)  Instead of homework, play dates and doling out snacks, I suddenly found myself with two free (quiet) hours.

I was at a crossroad.  Sort of like when bathing suit season is around the corner and every fucking corn chip is a crossroad.  I had an empty afternoon in the middle of the week.  What was I going to do with it?  Straighten up the house.  Catch up on e-mail. Return phone calls.  Schedule the handyman.  File Aetna claims.  No.  No.  No.  No.  And hell no.  Pour myself a glass of wine and write.  Now we’re getting somewhere.

It was pure chance that I got my two hours back today.  I realize novels aren’t written by being squeezed in on a to-do list.  Time to beef up my watch dog skills and guard myself against the time bandits!

School for Cavemen

“Dad says we would have made a really good caveman family,” First Born Prince tells me.

“Because of how big and strong we all are, we would never worry about anything.  We’d have plenty of food from hunting and we’d be able to defend our cave.”

I know this caveman fantasy.  He was dreaming about how simple life would be if all he had to do was bring home meat and hit me over the head with a club once in a while. 

Except, wherever you go, even in time travel, there you are.

The Professor would constantly be in discussion with tribe elders, trying to figure out how to build better weapons and make fire.  Word would get out about this large man in a well-heated cave and he would be asked to travel to other cave tribes and teach them what he’s learned.

I could see myself in a fashionable animal hide explaining to the other cavewomen how I enjoyed having a warm cave and lots of meat but that I was exhausted from how the Professor was constantly analyzing the way we did things.  I’d confide that although the basket he gave me was helpful, I liked to gather berries my own damn way.

He’d be gone for weeks at a time, taking his sack of new tools with him.  The other cave people would ask me if I missed him and I would say yes but really I would be happy for the break to live on ill-gathered berries and soak in the hot springs with the other cave women who had successful hunters who were gone a lot.

When he’d return, he’d be full of tales of other tribes who inspired him, young cavemen with good ideas of their own and I would show him the new boulders I found for us to sit on while we ate our meat.

At the end of the day, when we were all tucked safely into our warm cave corners, bellies full, I’d look over at my big, exhausted caveman and be very proud.

Making a Leap

2011 was a doozy for most and I am no exception.  At the start of the year, I felt like I was going to lose my mind, stressed out to the max about whether we should stay in Ithaca or move back to La Jolla.  Mid-game changes are not my forte.  The Professor seems to thrive on them.  After much struggling, we came back to southern California last July and have been trying to settle back in to an old place with a new attitude.

The problem is I haven’t found the right set of new tools.  It’s very challenging to reinvent your lifestyle when you have the same old approach to doing things.  It’s like my wine habit.  Reading in a magazine how I can replace the wine with herbal tea or a bath in the evenings as a wind down method doesn’t help me.  I have my own style and I’m not really interested in boiling a kettle of water or filling up a tub when it’s 5:00pm and I want to uncork something to go with my dinner.  I am motivated to change in bigger ways. 

We are trying out new roles as teacher and writer instead of CEO and volunteer/housewife.  In order to make it work, we have to adjust the spending of our energy, time and money.  My habits are deeply ingrained and I find it difficult to stop behaving the way I used to. Last month I mindlessly bought a pair of $200 grey suede clogs (online because I gave up the mall), wore them around the house for 15 minutes, then got a hold of myself, put them back in their box and printed out the return label faster than I could say, “Please credit my account.”  After 20 years of making and spending money as a way to survive, I find myself slipping left and right as I try to reduce expenses and keep myself on the word document in front of me.  I end up jumping over to Firefox to shop, chat or spy, or worse, jumping out of my chair and heading out the door to waste energy, time and money on the avenues of La Jolla.

My best friend reminded me that change is not a perfect upward curve on a growth chart, but rather jagged, with ups and downs, set backs and if you’re lucky, big leaps forward.  I am going to keep at it, every which way but hopefully not loose...Here’s to making 2012 the best leap year ever!

Comfort and Jews

We spend every Christmas in the desert.  Palm Desert.  Home to movie stars, great restaurants and lots and lots of Jews.  It’s like New York City except with palm trees and golf carts.  The Professor and I have been going out there for a week at Christmastime with our same friends since before we were married.  What started as a vacation for four single working professionals escaping L.A. grew into a 16-year tradition with a family that we all created.

Exhausted from work, we used to show up and sleep for a week, taking conference calls in between dinners and movies.  Then when the kids were little, we'd spend the week on death-prevention patrol.  There is nothing relaxing about a two-year-old near a pool.  Now we have kids that feed themselves and schedules that we have slightly more control over.  Our Christmas week has become a resort vacation with everyone hiking, swimming, playing tennis, and new this year, horseback riding.

I go back and forth about being sad that we don’t observe Christmas the way I grew up— with traditional food, by a fire, awaiting Santa and all of our relatives, dressed to kill.  Instead we wear bathing suits, drink margaritas and play Scrabble.  We order Chinese take-out and watch movies.  So what I have is not what I dreamed it would be.  I always imagined myself cooking big dinners at home and filling stockings in the middle of the night while my children were nestled all snug in their beds.  I never thought I'd be tossing it all in the trunk of my car before driving the Pines-to-Palms Highway where I put my children to sleep in a condo on a golf course.  My 12-year-old asks Santa for cash and my eight-year-old knows more about Hanukah than the birth of Christ. 

Letting go of Norman Rockwell and embracing Woody Allen is not the magic I would have guessed, but what fun is Christmas if you already know what you’re getting?

What's Your Intention?

My yoga teacher starts practice with the words of wisdom, “Set your intention.”  For those of us who appreciate this principle, it’s key to progress in everything we do.  After I became more mindful on the mat, I started seeing better results.  The minute my thoughts start to wander, I reign them in or send them away or tell myself to keep breathing.  I've learned to stop avoiding uncomfortable postures out of fear of pain or failing or falling.  I've begun to accept my limitations without being a quitter.  I am trying to do the same in my life off the mat as well. 

I was at a funeral reception yesterday.  It was a beautiful tribute to my friend's much loved and respected “Maman,” which is Persian for “Mother.”  My friend said she lost her best friend, mother and grandmother (she was raised by Maman, her grandmother).  She is going to miss her dearly and I know the loss was huge for her entire family.  When my friend's children took their turns to speak at the dinner in her Maman's honor, I realized it was not happenstance that the person who they would miss and remember was generous, thoughtful, and loving.

They talked about going to Maman’s house after school where they always had so much fun.  One of them even said he would get excited seeing her waiting at the school gate.  She would fill them up with homemade food, get them to dance to Persian music, and teach them Farsi.  Photos projected on the wall showed Maman, proudly hugging her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  You could see how much they appreciated the time and attention she gave them. 

School breaks at 3:15 today for 15 days.  The last thing I want is for my boys to remember a winter break with a stressed-out mom who yelled a lot and was forever running out the door.  I know they don't need a trunk load of wrapped gifts, and that what they'll treasure are happy memories of our family together.  In order to arrive where I intend--spending the next two weeks in ways I find important--I am going to have to let go of at least half my list and pull out the Monopoly board, lasagna pan and 80’s CDs.. 

Say, we can go where we want to.
A place where they will never find.
And we can act like we come from out of this world.
Leave the real one far behind.

We can dance.

Naughty or Nice?

The holidays really are a defining time.  If you choose to ignore them, you are a scrooge.  If you embrace them, you are an annoying Christmas-sweater-wearing type.  My friends’ posts recently on Facebook and Twitter were telling.  “Let the madness that is December begin” or “I just had a weekend that didn't feel like a weekend. #tired”

It’s tough finding the sweet spot that works for yourself and your family.  Everyone has different energy levels, budgets and amounts of free time.  I used to think that the key was organization and planning and that if I scheduled everything just right, I would survive the holidays victorious.  I shopped ahead of time, ordered photo cards before Thanksgiving, decorated when my curmudgeonly husband was out of town.  I tried to keep the stress of the holidays to myself by getting craftier and smarter every year, hoping to beat the mayhem, expense, and marathon-style events.

What I have found is that there is no winning at this game. My down-to-earth friend who I thought was so sane showed up at school last week with pine needles in her hair because she wrestled a Christmas tree out of the back of her SUV, up a flight of stairs, and into her home by herself.  I am sure she will decorate it by herself this year, too, as her boys are teenagers now and I’ve never seen a straight male over the age of 12 hang anything on a tree. 

I have a pact with the Professor to keep things to a dull roar, mainly because we are Jewish, but also because I admire and respect his sensibilities.  He grew up in an apartment in Manhattan where everyone valued movies and Chinese food and good moods over homemade turkeys, decorated homes and lots of alcohol.

The problem is I enjoy Christmas lights, holiday parties, and opening the cards and gifts that arrive in the mail.  I don’t want to be a free rider, so how can I receive if I don’t give?  Would it still feel like Christmas if all of my friends stopped decorating and hosting and just went and volunteered for a cause they found important and simply told me about it the next time I bumped in to them at the market?

It seems the balancing act of our lives is magnified most in December.  I really do wish everyone peace on earth…finding a way to achieve it would make this the most wonderful time of the year.

New Plan for December

Young children know how to get it right.  I realized on this holiday trip to New York why my boys love it so much.  Yes, they adore visiting their grandparents.  But I used to think the city was enchanting to them because we go to Chinatown on the subway, climb rocks in Central Park, and have big bowls of ice cream in beautiful places.

They reason they enjoy these visits is because we slow way down and suddenly we get to stay in our pajamas all morning and lounge about on the sofa with Grammy & Grampy.  First Born Prince has been playing lots of Lego and reading constantly.  Charming Baby brought an art kit and wrote a story.  Given the choice of how to spend an afternoon, they’ll choose playing cards at the kitchen table over a matinee on Broadway any day.

I would never have guessed that it would take a trip to Manhattan to remind me of the simple pleasures.  As I look at our December, I want to replicate the quiet, happy memories of the holidays from when I was a kid.  I remember getting very excited when "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Charlie Brown's Christmas" were broadcast on ABC each year.  My brother and I would get to eat dinner on TV trays and suddenly the feeling in the air was magical.

I have no memories of my mom stressed out at the mall, cursing at people in parking lots, but I do remember her making at least a half-dozen different types of Christmas cookies and assembling beautiful tins full of delicious homemade goodies for family, friends and neighbors.  My favorites were the date nut pinwheel cookies.  The secret is freezing the rolls of dough before slicing.

We would spend hours decorating the house together with our Bing Crosby “White Christmas” album playing.  Everyone knew it was my job to put the angel on top of the tree and I didn’t even have to arm wrestle my brother for that.  He got to set up the nativity scene and spread the hay around v-e-r-y carefully.  My dad hung lights on the house while singing “Now, bring us some figgy pudding…”  There was no feeling of cramming a bunch of commercial activities into our schedule, but rather time to sleep in and enjoy the heavenly smells coming out of the kitchen.

There is an overwhelming assortment of activities back home waiting for us—holiday theatre, chamber music performances, Christmas parades, tree lighting ceremonies, parties, shopping events.  I have just decided that we’ll be opting out of most of it in favor of baking cookies and watching movies.  At home.  In our pajamas.  Just like it was 1978.