On The Sock Drawer and Figuring Out Who I Am

A few weeks ago, The Husband made the declaration that I tend to "let the minutia of life worry me too much." Upon hearing this little tidbit of wisdom, I considered it for a bit and decided he was probably correct. I am a worrier. It is a genetic thing. I come from a long line of worriers. If I finish worrying about something today, I guarantee by tomorrow I will come up with something else to replace it. If you factor in that I have four children (one who is nicknamed The Rebel), it only exacerbates the situation.

About an hour after making his little statement, The Husband sends me the following e-mail:


"My sock drawer is getting low. It has been happening slowly for the last few months. Could you please look into it?"


Ok, now I don't like to be an over-reactor to things....but does anyone besides me see some irony here? For about 2 minutes, it flashed before my eyes that this was what my life had come to... checking on The Husband's sock drawer. Thank goodness I was rescued by The Boy's request to help him find his cup for baseball practice....and then there was the Little One who desperately needed her hair put in a side-ponytail "with no hair sticking out" before she could go to the pool...

I'm not complaining...really I'm not. After all, someone has to make sure the sock drawer is full, find the cup and do the ponytail. It's just that there are days that...well...I guess I let the "minutia" get to me.

I have to quickly flash back to a few years ago when I was in Paris wearing my gorgeous black suit and 4 inch heels and flitting through the halls of the International Gift Show doing my "Oh So Glamorous" job of Retail Director/ Buyer. All the while, The Husband patiently strolled The Boy through the streets of Paris so I could do what I needed to do. And there were never any complaints...and he was totally supportive...and so what I mean to say is...I had my time and I made the decision to be finding cups and helping with ponytails...

It's all relative, isn't it? Like Carrie said in Sex and the City, "The past is like an anchor. Sometimes you have to let go of it to find out who you are now." When I met The Husband, I was a model. Not a model in the Giselle/ Cindy/ Naomi sense of the word...but a model in the "really don't like the job but love the money" sense of the word. If you look really hard in a few episodes of that old tv series "Savannah" (gosh was that a terrible show) or in some old Macy's ads, you can see my "best work". (That is me being sarcastic). I did happen to like the runway stuff...you didn't have to talk to anyone and they didn't put the massive amount of make up on you that required an hour in the make up chair ...you just got to walk up and down the runway wearing some very chic clothes. But after I married The Husband, I had to let go of that job (which is a story for another blog) in order to make our new life work. Then the Director/ Buyer job worked for awhile until the babies came along. But juggling everything from The Husband to the Big Sisters to the babies became too much.....And when you start feeling like you are doing everything poorly...it's always time for a change...


These days, I do what I like to do and need to do. I counsel the older ones, take care of the Little Ones, keep the sock drawer full for The Demanding One...and I write about it....and other things...

The beauty of life was illustrated on the day of the sock drawer discussion. After I checked the drawer (and by the way, discovered 14 pairs of socks...IS THIS REALLY LOW?) ...I sent The Boy to practice and the Little One to the pool...and into my in-box popped a message from an editor telling me that my latest article was being published....so the world came back into color and perspective for me. I am who I am because of all of the intricacies of my life...and I am thankful for all of it...(at least on a good day)


So until tomorrow, when I will officially change the blog address to http://www.cestlaviegirl.blogspot.com/, and hope that all of you will join me there for more discussion of A Day in the Life of me....