Holidays have always been a difficult time for me. My naive fantasies of what a holiday celebration should look like with the stark reality of what my life looks like is hard. Despite loving my life and the choices have made I am cognizant that it looks different than what media would have me believe is the standard. Even this weekend, not a particularly big holiday but it still comes with pressure. My youngest asking me what we are doing for Memorial Day and me over hearing all the stay at home moms with the the money for two houses and cars that cost almost as much as my home talking about going to their shore home etc...For me and my family this long weekend looks like recovery. Both of my girls broke their foot and are in boots now. My youngest is still struggling with respiratory issues and we are heading to a new specialist this week. I cut down my job obligations when I left my 3rd temp job but I have been able to pick up more hours on my 2nd job and all I do is work. I work, I clean and take care of the house, I exercise and I sleep. I do little else with my life. And for right now that feels good.
I did feel obligated to get the kids outside today. We headed to my sisters where we just literally sat and chatted, while I worked. My mom was there too. They complained about their spouses and I had nothing to complain about. Sometimes I think about all my mom has sacrificed to be with my dad and I feel bad for her. They have been together since she has been 17 and he 19 and it was anything but easy. I used to beg for them to divorce. Their relationship is and always has been toxic. My dad is a good man with so many wonderful qualities but being a good communicator is not one of them. Sometimes I think he is just mean to my mom and I can not figure out why. And I see my mom resents him. It is just a cluster fuck and frankly there is too much peace in my life for me to find myself in a place like that. I would be lying if I did not think their relationship has not impacted my new found independence and need for peace in my home. I dont want to be my mom's age and have that horrible full body angst that only a man can fill me with.
As I was driving home I drove past the neighbor's house and he has not called me like he usually does. I feel a little fucked up about this. I liked him boosting my confidence and making me feel wanted even though the thought of fucking anyone makes me cringe. I walked out of my house the other day and he was walking his dogs right in front of me. My kids were outside with me and I was talking to them and it is this him catching me in the wild and the two of us acting as though we dont see each other that I live for. I absolutely love the secret of it all.
My mind is a little bit all over tonight, so I am skipping around a bit. My friend has been so busy this holiday weekend it makes me feel like I am not doing it right. She has had non-stop events and plans for days now and I am just sitting in my peaceful home working. I try to balance what I want and need and what my kids want and need and that's how we ended up at my sisters. My sisters house is wild. They have two very nice dogs and my kids love to interact and play with the dogs. They have a big yard and believe that the yard is for the kids to destroy and have fun in. For a visual, the kids Little Tykes play house that the kids played with for the last 12 years still sits in the yard. The kids have painted it, attached a mailbox to it, decorated with Christmas garland and filled in cracks with spray foam (just for fun). There are toys in the driveway at all times, and projects that are being worked on. Today my niece and daughter dug a river in the middle of the yard and got the hose out to fill it and added sticks and giant branches for bridges. That river will stay like that until the elements erode it away and they could not care less that there yard looks a mess. I half love it and half want to fix it. Im all for kids using my house and yard to be kids but they might take it a bit too far. But my kids LOVE it there. They have a great inground pool but it is just too cold to swim yet. We all had pizza, we laughed, we relaxed and that is all I could ever hope for on a holiday weekend. I have to remind myself that I am not here to make anyone but myself happy, well my kids and then myself.
I feel like I am in a growth and healing journey in my life right now. And maybe I cannot just open myself up to people like I could before as I am allowing myself to feel the feelings that I have been running from for so long. There are deep reasons, I assume, for my current feelings on sex. I do find myself seeing that I am using work as an escape from things I don't want to acknowledge. I am happy to work all day every day. I force myself to do the other things like cook for the kids and take a walk. It just feels nice in this mental protective cocoon. No wandering thoughts, no wondering how my life will go in the next chapter, no worries about the kids. I just let my mind get lost in the details of work and it feels so freeing. It's like what swimming does for my body. The weightlessness and freedom from pain and the soothing feel of the water. Work gives me that. I feel like sex used to give me that. And to be frank D ruined that for me.