I'm Sure There's Something Meaningful Here

DH has been away all week. That coupled with my apparently insurmountable sense of chaos at the whole back-to-school thing has made life a little bit hectic. Kind of like my normal life, only on fast-forward.

I went to dinner with a dear friend last night. She asked about another friend, which reminded me that I promised the second girl dinner tonight (she just had a baby). Crap! I tried making one dinner late last night. Disaster ensued. Just when I'd given up and decided that a chicken from Whole Foods was acceptable, I spied a bag of Trader Joe's shrimp in my freezer. That, plus olive oil, plus garlic, plus a few spices, plus spaghetti, plus some chopped tomatoes would make a great scampi.

So this morning, when the WDCL woke me up at 5:15, I rolled out of bed and started assembling ingredients. Discovered that the dishwasher had, once again, trapped the detergent in its little cup instead of using it to actually clean the dishes, so started that up and faced a sinkful of other dirty dishes.

By the time WDCL and I walked out the door for her morning constitutional, my brain was racing. Dinner to make and deliver, school to get kids to and from, about six phone interviews today, ballet class this afternoon, time to get outside, and six or seven house-type things I wanted to accomplish today.

It was dark out. WDCL stopped to sniff at something and I looked up...just in time to see a shooting star. The second one I've seen in my life. At that time of the morning, it was totally silent on my street, and something about that streak of light shining through the blackness and the quiet made me breathe a little deeper, relax a little bit, and enjoy the peace for just a moment.

I'm trying really hard to hold onto that moment today. It wasn't quite meditation (which has never done it for me in the relaxation department. Too much pressure to relax!), but it let my muscles un-tense and my spine shift a bit and my brain take a bit of a respite from the September craziness.

My wish for all of you is for a shooting star, in whatever form it may take, sometime in your day. Breathe...