Let me just start by saying that the fact that it’s Sunday night and I’m about to start a full work week scares me just a little. Because really, my body is telling me that it should be Friday. How tired am I? I’m so tired that the best title I could come up for, for this post was “tired.” So sad.

I mean, not only do I feel like I’ve been hit by a Freightliner (just to be different), I feel like I’ve been thrown to the side of the road and then rolled off a cliff. Okay, maybe not the cliff part, but definitely the side of the road part. Perhaps more proof that my body just doesn’t operate like it used to.

I think it all started Saturday morning when I, perhaps foolishly, decided that this was the morning that I was going to overcome recent aches and pains and give it my all in my Zumba class. It definitely felt good during the class, partly because I felt as though I was conquering mind over matter, but by the end I was already kind of starting to feel like I could have been mistaken for a puddle of rain water on the floor. But there was no time to waste because we had limited family time ahead of us. Showers, naps, snacks, a load of laundry in, 10 rounds of clean up and we were headed out of the garage. First stop: lunch. Second stop: Best Buy to research new camera options.

Once we had all the excitement we could handle, we headed home for nap time. And no, I’m not talking about Elena. I’m talking about me. (See puddle reference above.) I could barely keep my eyes open – which randomly happens these days – and given that I had to be at work at 3 p.m. on Saturday, I thought a little siesta might be in order. Well, let me tell you that a half hour goes by really fast these days. Really, it feels like just about 30 minutes and that’s all! But you have to take what you can get, so I was grateful for a little rest time.

From there, the race was on to finalize and dress myself in the requested wardrobe of the evening: “cocktail attire and comfortable shoes.” Well, I don’t know about most people, but in my clothing world, those two are not a match made in heaven. I mean, I was seriously stumped. Which is really bad when you wake up from a nap at 2:30 p.m. and have to be to work by 3:00 p.m. Dare I say this does not leave much leeway for the requisite “fashion crisis?” Dress on, three pair of shoes in hand, I was off and running. Running late perhaps, but off and running nonetheless.

Less than 10 minutes later, I was hopping out of the car and navigating the gravel parking lot in my flip flops and dress, headed up the hill to my office. It was the last time I’d sit down for more than two minutes during the next eight hours as I helped staff our marquis fundraising event of the year. And despite a cloud-filled sky that had been threatening and spitting rain all day, the sun decided to appear, a big crowd enjoyed drinks and fine dining from local restaurants, entertainment, casino and carnival games and dancing from an awesome 70’s band from Seattle. As a coworker so rightly noted, “I never imagined I’d be making this many trips back and forth through the zoo, much less without my kids!” (And did I mention the zoo is on a hill?)

I fell into bed around midnight and by this morning my feet were still tingling…you know, like you can actually hear them whimpering for help. The good news is that Elena slept until 8:00 a.m while Ian happily spent some quality time with his Leapster Explorer in his room. The bad news is that I had scheduled a haircut for Ian at 9:30 a.m., so it didn’t take long before I was, once again, running late. Sigh. Hurry! Get dressed! Finish breakfast! Is your bed made? Are your teeth brushed? Wait, I’m not dressed yet! Just a minute!!…. Go get your shoes on and wait downstairs! Luckily this morning I learned that Ian can be late for a haircut and still come out looking nice. Good to know! The haircut was directly followed by a side trip to meet up with a friend from D.C. who was passing through town on business. So great to have the opportunity to catch up…and it was hard to believe that’s already been coming up on five years since we moved.

As a lovely feather in the cap of the day, Ian and I headed home in what could only be described as a torrential downpour that lasted most of the day. Not to mention that it was freezing outside. Okay, not literally freezing but a far cry from what should define July given that I was wearing jeans and a cardigan, and wishing I had a coat on. But as the chick on TV said this evening, “Yeah, it sucks because it’s July but hey, it’s Oregon…” Not to mention that I, no doubt along with every one of us involved in putting on Zoolala, kept thinking, “Yeah, it sucks but hey, at least it didn’t do this last night…”

Home in time just to join Jeff and Elena for a quick bite to eat, I realized there wasn’t much time before Ian needed to be at his first – or second, depending on your point of view – swim class. Another load of laundry in, all my body kept thinking about was closing its eyes and laying down, while all my mind kept thinking about was how I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to get to the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, which started on Friday. Who knows what “must haves” had already passed me by! Torn as I was, I felt it was my duty to pull myself together for a super speedy trip to my favorite store. I made it back just in time to run up the stairs, help Ian grab his stuff and run back to the car, do a donut in the driveway and off we went to swim lessons. And guess what? Miracles do happen because we were like three minutes early! (Which reminds me of a time when I actually used to be early to most things. Oh, those were the days.)

Swim class complete (check!), the four of us (Jeff and Elena joined us mid-way through Ian’s class) were off for our weekly grocery trip. After setting a record for the amount of circles around a Fred Meyer parking lot in the state of Oregon, I snagged a spot and we were ready for our family shopping trip. (You know what they say about the family that shops together…) Of course by now my body is like, “Really? I mean, really Melinda? How about a little break?” No! Must. Keep. Going. It wasn’t until we were home, the Burplings had their little snacks (at 5pm, no less) and I moved the laundry another step toward the finish line that I decided some down time was in order and realized how incredibly tired I feel/felt. Kind of like, if I could sit here on the couch for the next 24 hrs. straight with a servant responding to my every need, I’d be okay with that. But sadly, I can’t. And I don’t. Which means my only other choice is to get to bed soon in an attempt to fully recharge for the week.

Here’s to the weekend!