Despair

I am sure I am not the only woman on the planet who has fantastic good intentions to exercise, diet and get fit. But how many women come home from a great trip to find disaster in the house? Approaching the house I see a huge puddle of water in the driveway and before this completely registers I see a forest on the boulevard. In normal days this would be a lawn. I open up the garage door to discover planks stacked there. Walking towards the back door I see dirt piled on the driveway and then my eyes are assaulted by the sight of my back lawn scarred by tire tracks, criss crossing the whole back yard.

At this point I fear to open the back door but I have bags in my hands and they are heavy so I fumble for my keys and step across the threshold. My fear is not unwarranted; clothes are strewn everywhere and going up the few steps to the next door, more clothes and bigger shoes. Erik. I’m now in the scullery where dirty towels, socks and who-knows-what is lying across the counter along with newspapers and flyers (how many times have I asked Erik not to bring flyers to the house?). At the same time my nostrils are filled with the musty smell of water coming from the basement. Oh great, still flooding down there? Did I mention that the lawn is also a jungle because it has apparently been raining so much that it’s had the chance for a real growing spurt despite the fact that I cut it just 5 days ago? Oh no, it was 6 days ago.

After discovering all that, barely being able to close my eyes to sleep because I was trying to figure out how to make the house decent before my book club meeting on Saturday and this morning as I went about the house discovering more disasters (bathroom, kitchen, living room and I don’t even want to look in the family room) who can possibly gather the energy to take a run on the treadmill, shower and wash my hair afterwards and try to look like a fashionista to impress my colleagues? After all, I’m not Superwoman.

In fairness to Erik, he has started cutting out the dirt in preparation for making my deck so there is a reason for the dirt on the driveway, the stacks of lumber and the criss crossing (groan?) of the back lawn. I should have called Charlotte to keep an eye on things and I have a feeling I may need to make that emergency call today because I can’t do it all, contrary to popular belief!

I ask you – would you still get on that treadmill this morning?