TGIF

I’m just about used up. Fried. Exhausted. Hanging on by a thread. Etc. Project deadlines, conference calls, traffic jams, late nights, too many yeses when I wanted to say no, hard conversations, holding on to resentments and listening to that nasty voice telling me none of it is fair – I’m spent. So for the sake of my sanity, my marriage, and my continued employment, I hereby declare the theme of this weekend: replenishment. With that goal in mind, I’m going to:

Go to the farmer’s market. Spend some time with the shiny, productive, healthy people. Stock up on food that came from the ground. Buy a vegetable I don’t know how to cook. Then take it all home, pour a glass of local Virginia wine, and spend the afternoon chopping and preparing for the work week. Remind myself that I deserve fresh spinach and strawberry smoothies instead of Diet Coke for breakfast.

Look at my husband. Eat a meal with the television off. Go for a walk with no destination in mind. Make a big pitcher of sun-brewed sweet tea for the man who still loves me at the end of this week though I’ve done nothing to merit it and plenty that would make a lesser man run screaming.

Soak up the Love of God. Sit on the porch without agenda and bask. Notice the mercies that promise to be new tomorrow morning. Teach it to my college students again. Speak fewer words when I pray. Say thank you a lot. Consider it all small offerings of love and gratitude. Resist the urge to be cynical.

Practice Sabbath. Unclench my fists and my jaw. Take at least one bath. And two naps. Try not to rush myself or anyone else. Accept the invitation to be and not do. Rebuke guilt. Repeat as necessary.

Buy new work pants. Justify it by acknowledging that it’s hard to be loving or successful when you feel like a schlub. Be a grown up and have new pants professionally hemmed. Save the laundry for next weekend.