I’ve taken almost a month largely away from work. I’ve rested, I’ve exercised, I’ve slept like it was going out of fashion. In other words, I’ve taken really good care of my mental and physical health.
Yesterday was my first official day back at work. I’m excited to get things rolling again, to start some new projects and face some long-running old ones with renewed vigor.
And, of course, I woke up with a cold.
It’s Whiny Wednesday and I’ve missed it these past few weeks. How about you? What’s making you shake your head and wonder why me?
This past weekend, I had to attend my niece’s 2nd birthday party. I love her but I usually get a little depressed after I leave her. At the party was my brother’s sister-in-law who is pregnant with twins through IVF. Just being around her big belly put me in a state of anxiety – I couldn’t talk to her until I left the party and all I said was “congratulations.”The next day, I logged onto FB and saw my best friend (who is 44 and pregnant with a donor egg) had her baby shower. I had figured I would be invited and was planning to RSVP no BUT I was very hurt to find out I was not invited and knew nothing about it. It’s empowering to decline the invite — it made me feel pitied and pathetic to be excluded.i was feeling very down yesterday but a little better today. I know it was too much baby and pregnant overload and it will take me a few days to get myself back to a strong place. I am so grateful I can whine about it here.
Maria, I’m horrified you weren’t invited (and given the choice to say no) to your best friend’s baby shower. It’s hard enough feeling isolated because we have no kids, but not to be invited really makes us feel left out. Can you let her know, gently, that you felt left out?
I’m going to talk to her, eventually anyway. She called me Wed last week but we didn’t talk and maybe she was going to give me the heads up. I was going to call her to make plans for dinner before the baby is born so we could talk about it then. Thanks for your concern though — it was a comfort to me.
The auditors are here. I can’t stand them. They are not the brightest bulbs in the box. They aggravate me to no end with the extra work they create due to their basic stupidity. Like – if I say look at the last tab on the spreadsheet, just because it doesn’t have a name other than “Sheet 2” doesn’t mean it is empty. It’s the last tab and I said look at the last tab.
Yesterday, the first day of school, was absolutely AWFUL for me. It was right up there with Mother’s Day, except worse. For one thing, I live right next to two schools (one Catholic, one secular), and the first day is always a toughie for me when I see all those kids on the playground after weeks of not seeing them. Then, it seemed like every friend I have on Facebook felt the need to post a picture of their kids on the first day of school. I talked to my one sympathetic mother-friend, and she said she felt like a bad Mom for not posing her kid yesterday, even though she knew it might embarrass her 13-year old if she did. She says most Moms do it. I don’t get that. Since when is this a ritual that everyone has to observe? Don’t get me wrong, I understand the Moms who are dropping off their kids for JK or SK for the very first time, but come on…the first day of Grade 5?
Oh, and my “twin” cousin (we share a birthdate, the same initials and look similar) is a grandmother. Her 17-year old (drug-addled) son and his 16-year old girlfriend had a baby girl on Sunday.
Just so many reminders of what I can’t have, and how easy it seems to be for everyone else.
I too have seen a deluge of first day photos on FB. I’m with you, I don’t know when it became the thing to take a picture of very kid on their first day of school. I can understand kindergarten, the first day of school ever. But not much beyond that, that needs to be shared with the world.
I had a hard time with this one this week as well. My daughter would have started high school on Tuesday. (!!!) We drive by the local high school every morning & there was a sign out front reading “Welcome Grade 9s.” That was hard. 🙁