Ode to Saturday

Almost exactly one year ago (4/10/10) I started to write this blog post. I guess I didn't publish it because I thought people would misunderstand me as a ... murmurer. Oooh. I can see the stone-casting now! "Murmurer! Murmurer!!" Haha! But after the day I had yesterday—Easter Sunday!—I remembered my little song, found it amongst my gazillions of unpublished drafts, and decided I couldn't wait to share it with the world. Here's what I had written last year:

In my church, there's a cute little kid song about Saturday—all about how it's a special day to get ready for Sunday. Remember being in college (I hardly do! That was a decade ago now!) and watching the clock tick away on Sunday night . . . ? The knot of dread in your stomach just getting tighter and tighter . . . .

It's almost Monday.

Oh no, it's getting closer!

Ah, see.... I feel that still. But on a different day. And I've rewritten the Saturday song to pay homage to the most depressing night of my week. :)

Ahem. [cue best singing voice]

Saturday is a terrible day

It's the day I wish weren't almost Sunday....

I go to bed. And I set my alarm. [AHH!!] And I dream about skipping the whole day.

I think about meetings. And meetings.... And meetings.

And I wish I could just have a sleeeeeep day!

Then I fend off the tears and hope to not hear [my alarm, that is]

And really look forward to Monnnn-day!

Like it? :-)

I have to say that I do find it more than a little bit ironic that I consider Monday through Saturday my six days of rest compared to Sunday. Haha! Oh man.... Sundays.... 


So I don't really have to set my alarm anymore (thank goodness!), since we have church at the blessed hour of 1:00. (Yes, we love late church! Yes, it seems to take up the whole day. Yes, we love that. Lazy peaceful morning, go to church, lazy peaceful dinner and the day is done. We dread the years of 9:00 church. With fear and loathing...!) Last year my meetings started at 7:00 am! Boo. This year is much better. But here is how my day went yesterday. On Easter Sunday, mind you. Easter Sunday! I mean, come on people, this is a family day!

9:00 am—Seth wakes up and comes into our room. "Mom! Dad! You've got to see this! Something amazing!" Haha! Love it.

We go out and enjoy Easter baskets and such. Make some breakfast. Fun times, fun times.

Then, I was off!

10:45 am—Leave for church. Strategizing with Matt about Maren's feeding schedule....
11:00 am—Meeting. On Easter Sunday? Yes.
12:05 pm—Meeting ends. I rush over to the chapel to practice with the choir who were in desperate need of a pianist today. Thank my lucky stars that they managed to find an organist for sacrament meeting, or that would have been me! Oh man. That would have been crazy.
12:40—Texting Matt, realizing I'm not getting any spare time to get home before church like I had hoped.
12:45—Choir practice ends. People beg me to play prelude on the organ since the organist isn't there yet. "My baby is on her way starving and needs to be nursed, I'm so sorry!" I incite panic attacks in old ladies. I feel very bad about this.
12:50—Family shows up. I nurse Maren, glad that Matt got there early enough that I could be sure to have myself put back together before I have to run up and play the piano.
1:00—Church starts. In the next hour or so, I go up to play the piano three or four times. Up, down, up down. Each time, I wonder if I had actually put my clothes back in the right places after nursing Maren. I'm sure lots of you moms can relate! :)
2:00—I realize that I'm going to have to do Sharing Time (two 15-minute lessons) in primary (the kids' two hours of sunday school) at the last minute. Don't have anything prepared.
2:20—Go to primary. One of my counselors (the two ladies who run the primary with me) is home with sick kids. The other has hurt her back and needs to sit. Send the secretary to check on all the classes to make sure we have teachers, and I run the whole meeting by myself. Still not sure what I'll do for Sharing Time.... This goes until 4:00 pm.
4:00 pm—Church is over, and now a million people want to talk with me, addressing various issues in cub scouts and primary, kid issues, etc. I'm always grateful to hear from people. I just feel a little nutso trying to keep track of who all is trying to get my attention, where my stuff is while the missionaries are taking apart the room for a baptism, where Seth is and what Matt's plan is, is everything getting back in the closet and to the library, etc., etc.
4:30 pm—I stay behind for a kid's baptism (sweetest boy ever!) while Matt takes kids home. Coordinating feeding times again.... :-)
5:15 pm—I leave the building! To go have Easter Dinner with my family! Who I've really gotten to enjoy today. [Sarcasm intended.] I realize my wicked headache and body aches are partially because I never had time to get a drink all day and I'm disastrously dehydrated! Also, starting to get sick!

Oh, Saturday! I love my song for you. :-)

And, oh Monday! Monday, Monday!!! "Rainy days and Mondays...." The BEST!!! :-D

I feel another song rewrite coming on.... ;-)

A Comparison:

Nostalgia: Part Three

Thought I'd round things out with some fun pictures of Matt. I wish I'd known this kid! Sometimes I wonder what kind of friends we'd have been if we'd known each other since we were tiny little kids.... :-)

Seth's Dad. :-) He was probably running around singing The Imperial March incessantly, too. :-)

After being complimented on my eyelashes my whole life, I never imagined I'd get married and be totally upstaged by my husband's. He HATES 'em! Always getting stuck in his eye! :-)

Hahaha! This picture kills me. That little girl! So proud of herself. And Matt, sooooo miserable to be paired with her. Hahahaha!! Have you ever seen a funnier pair? It's so classic Matt. :-)

Whenever I see Matt with Brian—whether they're enjoying or harassing each other :)—I feel like, oh! Seth just has to have a brother someday! Some days lately, Seth and Maren feel like a forever team, just the two of them. Time will tell....
But I love this picture.

Hands down, my favorite, favorite picture of Matt EVER. He still has those eye crinkles when he smiles—I've always loved them. Such a twinkle when he's delighted! When I see this photo, I think, ah.... Maybe we don't change that much. I never knew this little boy, but this photo is 100% my Matthew. Love it.
Love him.... :-)

Nostalgia: Part Two

And do you think my mom looks at pictures like these and feels a pang of sorrow for a little girl all grown up...? These scenes could almost be from another universe to me—like Seth's and Maren's kid pictures will be to them someday—but I bet to my parents, it feels like just a blink away. Just a blink, and then it was gone! 

I remember thinking about Seth when he was two or three that, wow, he's such a complete person to us. We know him inside and out. He's whole and amazing and full. But this...this is a him he'll never know! Strange, isn't it...? The other day he couldn't remember something I thought we had just barely done together (it had actually been a year ago...) and it was this little stab to my heart. Ouch! Luckily, as Matt always says, yes, he keeps growing, but he keeps getting more and more great. 

Maybe my parents think the same about me.... ;-)

(And, yes, in case you were wondering.... Maren does indeed look exactly like me! It's weird! But fun, I guess. Especially for my parents who, yes, do miss their little girl, but suddenly have her anew. She does have different eyebrows! Proof she's not actually my clone....)

Nostalgia

Do you ever feel nostalgic for something before it's even past...? The second I saw this photo, I knew it would make me insanely sad-happy one day.

Oh, man! Someday I'll look at that, and that little boy will be gone! All gone! He'll be having kids of his own, working some grown-up job, and will hardly remember that he was ever this little bundle of cuteness. But right now, this photo is just sooooo him. You just have to soak it up, every moment.

When I was in the hospital with Maren, I remember sniffing her little head, and holding her close—feeling how that is to hold a newborn and look into those dark newborn eyes. I remembered how I learned with Seth that the newborn phase is gone in mere days. Why hadn't anyone told me? Seth was five days old, and already so different.

I sat there with Maren saying to myself, enjoy this! Enjoy this! Soak up the present.

Sure enough, that's just a memory now. And the cuteness that she is now will be a memory later. Enjoy every moment....

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