Lisa Marie Blair

Category: Journal

Daily-ish personal updates on my comings and goings, ups and downs, successes and failures.

  • 214 // Seize This Time

    It’s my wife’s last day at our district and the last day that we get to work together before she starts her new job on Monday.

    We had a party for her where bittersweet words were spoken and goodbye cake was served. They gave her a beautiful plaque, thanked her for all her hard work and years of dedication, then stopped short of begging her to change her mind. The panic could be felt in the room though as the reality of her leaving and of the chasm of knowledge and professionalism she was leaving behind began to loom.

    After all the tears my wife and I went home and opted to go out, do some shopping, and celebrate. We made it an early anniversary celebration, a celebration of her new opportunity, and a sort of make up date for all the long hours she’s been working. Part of me too is afraid of what next week will bring and I’m inclined to seize this time with her while I can.

  • 213 // There Have Been Tears

    My mind is on tomorrow, not today.

    Tomorrow is my wife’s last day with me at work and I can’t help feeling a bit sad over it. I’m not the only one. She is the best of all of us and this place will certainly be worse off without her. These last few days we’ve all had to accept that she is really leaving and the reality is hitting home. We’re all seeing the long road ahead without her warmth, her intelligence, and her drive. We’re seeing our own shortcomings and we’re imagining the collective failures to come.

    There have been tears, and I add my own to the deluge.

  • 212 // A Coworker and Friend

    Halfway there! Today was long. My body is feeling the effects from me pushing it the way I have. I’ve been working outside in the heat for hours a day and then going to bed way too late at night. I’ve been sleeping too much after work and not taking my medication the way I should. I’ve been stressed, anxious, and irritated and I haven’t figured out how to get out of my bad mood.

    Tomorrow we wrap up the work we’ve been doing with the new class, and though I haven’t said it or expressed it very well, I’m very proud of my team. We’re fucking awesome and no one is going to tell us that or treat us as well as we deserve so we have to do it for one another and it has to start with me. I haven’t been a very good coworker or friend, and I don’t know why, but I promise I’m going to do better.

  • 211 // Spending the Evening

    Tonight it’s raining. The temperature is dropping, and it looks like I may just be able to fall asleep comfortably before midnight. We’re spending the evening with plates of fried chicken, glasses of white wine, two-and-a-half hours of Democratic debates, and each other. I hope the rain sticks around to cool the air and lull me to sleep in my wife’s arms when bedtime comes.

    That would be a fine way to end a very long day.

  • 210 // All Out of Sorts

    Today was rough. Work has been rough since my return last week. I’m burned out on doing what I am good at but not what I love. I’m burned out on expectations and admiration. I burned out on being looked to and longing to work alone on what really thrills and fulfills me.

    I went home early and had to nap after staying up so late last night. That may have been part of the reason today was so rough. I had a headache. I miss my wife. I’m worried about the coming year. I’m hot and hungry. I’m all out of sorts and I just want to be left alone to get back right but course, I have a busy schedule the whole week ahead and, of course, it’s up to me to make sure it all goes according to plan.

    I’m trying to remember that I’m not stuck here and that this rut is only temporary.

  • 209 // Part of Me Regrets

    I woke up late, again. I haven’t figured out how to get back to not being so tired all the time. I mean I know how. I need to go to bed before midnight every night. The problem is knowing how to do that. I’m not tired when it is time to sleep and I am exhausted when I need to be awake. The newest chapter in the story of my life I suppose.

    We spent the afternoon with close couple friends celebrating the fact that all of us in our little group is married to someone else in our little group now. I drank just too much and after lunch spent a deliciously tipsy time shopping with my girlfr—wife! We giggled through the mall and afterwards through the grocery store too and came home and slept the early evening away.

    I woke up completely ruined. I have no appetite, but I want to eat. I’m thirsty. I have a headache. I’m tired and at the same time wide awake now. It was a good day and still, part of me regrets the late start, the long lunch, the drinks, and the nap. It was a good day but not at all a productive day.

     

     

     

  • 208 // A Kind of Mother

    We spent the afternoon at my niece’s 3rd birthday party. I enjoyed being with my family and I always take pride in being someone who always shows up, always supports, and always tries.

    More and more I have been thinking about what it means to be a big sister and the oldest daughter in a family. I have been thinking that I am a kind of mother too.

    All my life I have had to care for my siblings and now I see it was in preparation for what will eventually come. As my mother grows older, I become more aware of the transition we are all beginning to make to the time when I will take over as matriarch of the family. I’m terrified but also, honored.

    I’m growing more and more comfortable offering advice and exerting my will where needed. There are places where tough love is needed, where listening is the best course of action, and where I will have to make sacrifices and repress resentment.

    Yes, I am definitely a kind of mother.

  • 207 // I Miss Writing

    I’ve only worked two days this week but I’m already so ready for the weekend. I had planned to run errands, do some cleaning, and see some friends but right now I just want to do nothing at all until Monday. I’m sure that’s not a possibility but I may have a shot at some balance.

    I miss writing, and I need to get started on these essays, but things just haven’t calmed down enough and I haven’t quite come down to reality yet. I’m getting there. I will get there. A few words here and there is a start, and a start is better than nothing at all. This weekend will be a start.

  • 206 // Summer Time Simple

    I returned to work today and hated it. Not my job, or the people, just having to be somewhere and having to do something. I’ve always hated that part, but the feeling is especially acute after a break and all-consuming after you’ve gotten married and all you can think about is how you’d rather be with your wife in your home to wallow in life and love together.

    So, I left early hoping to head home to write. Very few words made it on screen or paper but some words are better than no words so I’ll take it. I napped some and cleaned like I always do when I am alone. I think I’d like to read later too and to cook dinner for my wife when she gets home. I guess—now that I think about it—that is what I love most about summer. I can pretend for a while every afternoon to live a simple life.

     

  • 205 // A Life to Plan Now

    Between the residual stress of wedding planning, the new stress of big life changes on the way, more than a week of hardly any sleep, and forgetting to take at least one dose a day of my medication and supplements every day for more than a week…I’m not doing so well.

    I had to take another day off of work. I think I disappointed my boss by staying home but there really wasn’t much I could do. They weren’t going to give me enough hours to make it worth it and I would have been uncomfortable and useless the whole time, anyway.

    So, I’m resting, and cleaning the house some more, and working on writing some small something if I can. I’m starting new drafts and finding a way to pick up where I left off. I’m choosing a new big project and reformatting my to-do lists now that I no longer have a wedding to plan. I have a life to plan now.

  • 204 // Everything is Perfect

    I’m three days into married life and slowly coming back up for air and getting back online.

    I apologize for disappearing the way I did but the closer I got to wedding planning the less time I had for anything else including sleeping and eating let alone writing. Something had to give. But I’m back now and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and moving forward in ways I hadn’t been able to these past few months.

    The wedding was just wonderful. I’ll post more about it Sunday when my thoughts are gathered and my emotions smoothed out, but for now, I will tell you I loved every minute of it, even all the parts that went wrong and so much went so very wrong. My vision for the day wasn’t quite realized, but it was a beautiful, intimate, heartfelt, and fun occasion, and that was all I had asked for. So, I am a married woman now. I have a wife and I am a wife.

    Everything is still the same and so different too.

    Everything is perfect now, the way it always was.

  • 188 // I’m Ready, I Think

    13 days left! Less than two weeks now.

    Today was a strange day. I got to witness the Colorado Renaissance Festival and though I found it impressive and charming, I also found it to be bat shit insane. I’m glad I went, but I’m confident I will never have to go again in my life.

    I had no time to write again today, and I doubt I will for the foreseeable future. No coffee share post this week and next week is even more questionable.  I’ll simply say now that the week was long but good, and the weekend was even better, almost perfect. We’re still working hard to plan and on top of the wedding, there are more big changes to come. Big changes that are both good and bad, or rather scary. Big changes I can’t talk about, yet.

    This week will be stressful. I’ve known that for a long time and accepted it. I’ve accepted there will be sleepless nights, worn nerves, and even a few angry blow ups and lots and lots of tears. I’m ready, I think.

     

  • 187 // Profoundly Disappointed

    14 days left! Exactly, and only, two weeks to go.

    The week has gone now, and I have had no time to write anything at all. My journal posts are going up late and I’ve gotten nothing drafted for the coming weeks. I miss writing. I miss the time I used to spend exploring ideas and thinking on the page. I miss feeling like I had something beautiful or interesting to share. I miss having a direction.

    And now it looks like my essay a week writing project/challenge will have to be postponed. I don’t know why I thought I could start a new project right now when every moment I have free from work or sleep has to be spent on the wedding. I’m profoundly disappointed but I am trying not to hold it against myself. My expectations were just too high.

  • 186 // It’s for the Guests

    15 days left!

    The countdown has been going on for a while now, but we are so close I start shaking when I think about it. It’s strange to think that in just over two weeks I will be a married woman. It’s strange to think that everything is going to change, and yet nothing will change at all.

    I’m freaking out beyond words over the wedding. I’m so afraid of so many things. I’m afraid to look dumb. I’m afraid to sweat to much. I’m afraid to say the wrong thing. I’m afraid that my guests will be bored, unimpressed, or somehow offended. As I’ve said many times before today, the wedding may be mine, but it isn’t for me. It’s for the guests and all I want now is for them all to be happy.