Momspace Magazine Feature Article

I am so happy to announce that the Philadelphia edition of the new Momspace Magazine is hot off the press! Look for my feature contributing article inside. I am thrilled to be a part of this great magazine! www.momspace.com! Please visit! You will find your free copy at various locations throughout your community or you may subscribe through the Momspace website. Thanks all! Miriam

If You Can't Roll With the Punches...Then Duck and Cover!

Heaven knows I set out with the best intentions. I am an extremely organized person. Not only in my profession of choice but in my day to day life with my ruckus of a family which consists of three very active boys. No longer little ones, their hectic schedules keep me on my toes. I saw the four day holiday weekend staring me down and I went into defense mode to prepare. It's usually a revolving door at my house with friends, pizza deliveries, texting and phone arrangements going full tilt. I don't mind it really; the kids are great to have around, we do laugh alot. There's also alot of begging, bartering and bribery and it does get old. Son No. 1 was preparing for his departure for an out of town trip for the long weekend so I was envisioning what one in my position might call a mini vacation...or at least a short respite from the teen angst. Prepared as I was with the weekend itinerary you could have bowled me over when I woke Friday morning at 6am, the usual time my alarm clock so gently stirs me from my sleep to a ruder than rude awakening of a different sort. Distant sounds of a child vomiting echoed. This would be son No. 3. OMG! My plans! My lovely weekend plans! Fear not, I hit the ground running...both literally and figuratively. Nothing can stopped me, I'm determined more than ever to have that weekend respite. I'll handle this! We'll get this over with and life will go on as planned. We'll stop that this minute! Ok, well, maybe I can't make that happen...we need to be in close proximity to a bathroom, and since I don't drive an RV Plan B has to be put into effect. Actually, I had it all figured out and there wasn't a Plan B in the works. Time to adapt one! I guilted my husband into returning to the house with some paperwork...well, the guilt was self-imposed by him, really, I just pleaded my case, you know, that marriage contract has some clauses! My other options just didn't pan out. Go Figure. Son No. 1 was promptly delivered to the train station. By the time I returned home things had settled down with No. 3. Thank you, Lord! A quiet night was had by all..until the morning when I was chauffeuring my Dad to the airport...and thank goodness for cellphones, I think...I got the call that my Mom In Law was being rushed to the hospital. (Another victim of the stomach bug...Norwalk virus I believe is the austere name of choice). I had to deposit Dad curbside and since we can't stop our vehicles he did pretty well disembarking in motion! I tossed him his golf bag, blew him a kiss and played beat the clock to retrieve sons 2 and 3 from band practice. Well, now, it finally dawns on me...Monster Truck Rally at 2:00. WHAT?? Will my husband be back from the hospital in time to take the boys to the final last hurrah performance for Grave Digger? Or, dare I utter...will I be joining them? No. I draw the line. I prefer spa retreats, jewelry parties, makeovers and such. I do BMX and dirtbike shows, Xgames, skateboarding with BAM, and sporting event after sporting event, I don't do Monster Trucks! Or do I? My horoscope for today actually read, "The universe is requiring a little more of you right now. Making an effort to go the extra mile to make other people happy will also increase personal contentment." I got told. I can't let these two down, they have on their Grave Digger hats that they bought when we were making tracks to the Outer Banks last summer and came across Grave Diggers' garage, complete with the infamous Monster Truck parked out front so unobtrusively. How could we not turn back for a look see and souvenir purchase? Who knows when we might attend a rally and need the official garb! I guess it's now or never. This was when I realized that the best layed plans are meant to be broken. My obsessive organizing can only go so far. Life will make of itself what it wants and you'd best be ready to be flexible. And hey, isn't being flexible the key to being organized? To be able to take a situation that's planned out to the nines, thought out, documented, laminated and stamped; well, things change. All the time. And sometimes change is good. I know Obama likes that line, I suppose he's right. With earplugs and earmuffs in tow I did my best impression of a Red Necked Mamma. No offense here, folks, I did live in North Carolina for about a decade, I've got it in my blood. It was kind of crazy fun because nothing can top the looks on my boys' faces when Grave Digger went airborne and I captured it for eternity on my camera phone. Try to be as prepared and organized as you can be at all times. It does make life flow more easily and best yet, it helps you to realize when it's time to just throw in the towel on the itinerary because you can. You will shift back to where you left off in due time. In the meantime, relax...enjoy the ride! But it'll get bumpy!