What Sabbatical Is For

This morning I had a meeting that went longer than I expected, so I rushed, lunchless, to pick up Eli at preschool so he could go to his swim lesson. He was a little whiny, which isnt like him, but since I hadnt had any lunch, I figured HE hadn't eaten his either, which he sometimes doesn't if something more interesting is going on and he gets distracted, so I gave him an apple and asked him if he was too tired for swim lesson, which he wasn't. I don't think it's bragging to say that he is now a pretty awesome swimmer who, in spite of having -8% body fat (yes, that IS a negative sign), easily can swim half way across the pool, which he did repeatedly today, with his face in the water just like they taught him. He was smiling during all the swimming, but when we got back in the car, he complained of a stitch in his side and I (still thinking of the missed lunch) gave him a cracker. Which he promptly threw up. Along with the the apple, half the pool's water, and his lunch (which appears to have involved peaches and possibly noodles).

I carried him inside, helped him change into clean clothes and tucked him into bed where he fell promptly sound asleep, which he always does after he pukes. Then, I went back outside with a roll of paper towels and the bottle of Liquid BioEnzymes or (whatever they're called) to clean out the car. And as I was squeezed under the front seat trying to wipe up all the yuck, I had three thoughts.

Thought Number One
I cannot BELIEVE I have to do this! I am a minister of GOD for crying out loud!

Followed a little while later, after some seething, by Thought Number Two
Ok, wise guy, but you're also a mom. And being a mom involves, you know, effluvia.

Followed immediately by Thought Number Three
Oh, yeah. This is what the blog is for.

It seems my short-ish blog sabbatical has come to an end, and like a good sabbatical should, a little light is now shone on the path ahead. I always assumed that all this writing about mommying would diminish once I working full time instead of part time (which will start in September) and instead, my blog would be more churchy in tone. I read with interest a while back when some of you Revgals were talking about blogging anonymously and that helped me realize that I didnt really think it would work for me to write about private stuff - staff issues or frustrating parishioners or menstrual cramps. (Well, ok, I'll probably blog about cramps sometimes. But I'll try not to make it too gory or anything.)

And I didnt really want to try to be anonymous anyway - I think I grew up in too small a town to believe that real anonymity is actually possible. But today, up to my elbows in boy puke, I realized something. I'm not going to stop being a mother just because I'm working full time! In fact, I'm going to have even more questions and stories about balancing it out - mothering, working and wrangling a disabled husband - than I EVER did before. FURTHERMORE (didn't you know we were headed for a "furthermore" at the end of an entry like this one?), I'm going to really need a space to figure all that out, and this is as good a one as I know.

End of speech, end of sabbatical. See you in the comment box.