Punch Line

There's an old story I recently just came across again.

It's the one where the guy comes home from work at his usual time, and finds his two children playing outdoors in their Pajamas. They are digging in the flower beds, and are covered in mud and dirt from head to toe. The front door is wide open, and he immediately realized something is wrong. He dashes inside, tripping over a pile of coats and shoes. The living room is a wreck, cushions off the sofa, books and toys all over the floor.  The kitchen is also filthy, the sink full of dirty dishes, the table covered in scraps of food and sticky syrup. The frige door is wide open and the dog is licking the bottom shelf. Juice is spilled all over the floor. The bathroom sink is running,  toothpaste is all over the sink and the bathroom counter, and toilet paper is trailing down the hall. As he makes his way up the stairs he notices that there is dirty laundry and toys on each step, and all over the floor upstairs. Crayon scribbles mark up the walls. Now very worried, he bursts into the bedroom to find his wife in bed with a book.

"Honey!" He exclaims. "What happened?"

"Well," she replies," You know how you're always saying you wonder what I do all day? Today I didn't do it."

I have been so distracted this week, that this is what I feel like. I know it was April Vacation, and I was supposed to clean my whole house. How much did I get done? I cleaned half the kitchen.

Now, don't get me wrong. I cleaned half the kitchen Really Really well. I did such a good job that even now, days later, you can tell it was cleaned recently, if you know where to look. It's just that I got distracted.

I committed myself to doing a rather big project for the church. It'snot something I'm doing on my own. In fact, I feel that I'm doing less than everyone else. But still, it requires a lot of reading, and a lot of phone conversations, and many meetings, most of which take place after 7pm. I feel as though I'm stretched pretty thin. So thin, in fact, that I stopped working out this week - even the little weight lifting I was doing, just so I could sleep a little more. I didn't vacuum the house this week. I've done less laundry than usual. And I feel I've hardly been there to put the boys to bed.

The project is almost over. Almost. OK, it will be over in another week. That isn't that long. I can hang in there for one more week, really. When this is over I can start working out again. Carefully, so my ankle won't get hurt. I can get my regular routine back. I can get back onto this Spring Cleaning project. I will once again be Wonder Woman.

But for now, I'm just a lump of tired brain matter who is aways in need of a nap.