I did this to myself last year: Scheduled a Stanford trip right before our big fundraiser for SAFEHOME and Rose Brooks Center. Last year, I spent 5 days in California and returned the day before the event. This year, I spent 11 days in California and returned three days out. Shew.
I had three days to get back in the groove with all my cases and do everything that remained to pull off the BEER, BBQ & WAFFLE BENEFIT. Thanks to Jenna Munoz, Miranda Erichsen, and some kick-ass sponsors, it worked, and when all the pennies fall through the piggy bank slot, we’ll have about a thousand dollars more than last year to help two agencies who serve survivors of family violence in our community. Double Shew!!!
Miranda and I stayed until midnight cleaning, and I finished the last of it today. Now a pile of client work for Tuesday’s trial awaits me. But my stomach rumbles and my head throbs. Tense shoulders signal that I’m falling, and if I don’t get a nap soon, I might crash. I’d rather let myself down gently. Any work I do now will be second-shrift, so I’ll close up shop, pack up the files, and go meet Genevieve for coffee. The work can be done from home, thanks to the convenience of modern technology.
Before I go, my eyes fall on a little pile of presents that came my way last night. I touch the edge of the cheerful card; I run one finger along the spine of the John Steinbeck novel from Chuck Dixon, and the “Complaint-Free World” from my sister-leopard Cindy Cieplik. They know me well. Travels with Charley, indeed. And cheerfulness, always my goal.
It’s the eighteenth day of the thirty-third month of My Year Without Complaining. I’m floating through the quiet air of my empty office. Soon I will rest. Life continues.