…steep

Life has not always been so chaotic. There was a time in the not so distant past when women spent part of each day loosening the pull strings of their taut bag of burdens over a nice hot cup of peace in the next-door neighbor’s kitchen.

Today, it feels that I am left alone to stuff my own bag with a mélange of calming curatives and coping strategies that promise to soothe and ease the stressors of everyday life. Of the many varied therapies that purport to calm, appease and relieve, I’ve selected journaling as my new panacea.

To: allandsundry@blog.out
Hey everybody, the quest today is to find humor in the Grape Nuts[1] glued to the kitchen table by the puddle of maple syrup dripping off the edge and onto the floor. The diapered culprit sits in the middle of the mess, with his chubby legs in the air yelling, “Ouch! Mommy, Help!” Love ya, sticky, icky Me

Reality Bite: Humor can’t come until the mop-up is done.

When the scum of life’s toughest situations float to the top of the simmering pot, rather than let it boil over, I vent—on paper. Then, when I return back to a slow simmer, I can amend the tirades and I send them off to other persons steeped in similar stews. This is my way to succor others, like the wise women from the not-so-distant past who knew the risks and perils of trying to float alone on this roiling boil.

My notes and conversations are not intended as personal satire, (because satire requires wit) but as observations of life and an analysis of the hot water that I find myself in, again.
If, by chance, I can manage to salvage humor from the dregs of the previous pot-full, that makes it easier to blow off the next upset and thus return to a functional simmer. These coping strategies may not resolve all the problems, and I may still bubble over, but the raucous whistle I let off reminds the children that it’s time to back off and let Mom write.[2]

Reality Bite: I’m committed! Or should be? See, it all works.

[1] Free commercial product placement. Who in their right advertising mind, would want to place a product in this medium for cash? This blog, if you haven’t noticed, is not the Super Bowl.

[2] Caviet: If you are now, or have been ever, under the mistaken presumption that the intent of this blog is to fill the void of parenting advice manuals, STOP. Now you can proceed.