Re-entry

It seems that after tax season I go into a re-entry phase into life. In some ways it's harder than tax season. In tax season I crowd out a little more of life outside work each week, until at the end it's work, sleep, eat. It's not a lot of fun, but it simplifies life in a strange way.

Then tax season ends. All of the things that I have been ignoring and neglecting for weeks and months are all there, and in some ways they are more urgent. I need a new lawn mower now because the grass needs mowing. I need to clean up my closet because it's just awful. I need to call a plumber to replace the hose hookups that got wrecked two winters ago so we can water a garden this year. We need to clean the house because the pre-prom pictures will be taken here, for reasons unknown. Bills need to be paid, the computers need to be upgraded and maintained. We need to decide what to do for vacation, and how that works around Dan's college planning. I need to plan a campout with Dan and Rob because we're running out of summers with Dan. I need to take Rob for a bike ride because I just need to.

Oh, and I still have plenty to do at the office.

So I go through a few weeks of adjustment. Sleep is a problem; I wake up from strange dreams that somehow point my mind to one challenge or another, and I never get back to sleep. Then I get sleepy, and jumpy. And then I have trouble sleeping...

I know, I adjust, I always do. Not everything gets done as quickly as it seemingly needs to, and the badly-needed lawn projects and house projects get delayed a bit more. If it's a choice between moving stuff around the garden and seeing Dan play concert band or Rob play Obadiah in the church play, it's an easy choice.



Dan plays in the 2008 Iowa High School Music Association Large Group Festival.



Rob in the church musical. He is on the right; you can click the picture to get a bigger view.