Don't Put Off for Tommorrow. . .

I am sitting here soaking my foot tonight because I dropped a piece of firewood on bare toes last night.  (insert self depricating remark and use your imagination because this is a doozy!)  I am reminded of the old saying "Don't Put off till tomorrow, what you could do today."  This of course comes to mind because I am stuck, foot soaking and eyes cast upon the piles of Lego Duplos still scattered across the floor for me to step on as I shuffle-limp around.  The piles of dishes on the counter is awaiting a ride to the dishwasher that Lila helped me empty today.  (Yes, I recruited a 3 year old.)  Then I think to myself, "I wish the giant clean laundry pile that has taken over my bedroom, the one I will stub my most likely broken toe on tonight, would just twinkle twinkle tink- and *poof* right into the closet where clothes belong.

Sadly, this is not the first time I have been caught short, house awry (or a wheat as I love to jokingly say because I am constantly getting sayings mixed up) while I am stuck waiting out the effects of some sort of calamity or illness.  I recently had my gall bladder out due to a most horrendous attack during which I longed for something less painfull and easier to deal with like childbirth or something fun like that with a happy ending--No Joke!

I didn't know it was a gallbladder attack when I was heaving hell to breakfast in the commode.  All I could think, besides "please make this go away!" was "Oh, no!  This house is too messy to have a stomach bug with 3 kids," and " The laundry pile is already big enough without a gazillion towels and sheets added in."  So, to this end, I am pretty sure I smiled at the Doctor who told me I needed to have my gallbladder removed.  Woo Hoo!  No stomache bug laundry!  The gallbladder removal was scheduled so I could arrange a cleanish house while I recuperated and the normal type laundry piled up out of sight. 

Then I wonder "What if those indigestion type pains in my chest and torso I began to notice back in April didn't turn out to be a gallbladder in December?  I didn't seek help till I experienced pain worse than childbirth and even then I googled my symptoms to be sure it was worthy of a trip to the ER and calling family to stay with the kids in the middle of the night.

Don't put of till tomorrow what you could do today. . .  It takes on new meaning as my husband and I get older, as I watch my three kids grow, and as grandparents, great grands, and me start experiencing the frailties of life.  Who do I need to connect more with?  (besides my Doctor, wise guy)  What am I going to wish I said?  Who do I need to listen to more?

I began, when each of my children was new, to write one page letters to them talking about things I didn't want to forget about them.  Like when one of them called strawberries, dabios, and another called Uncle Howard, Hadu and other silly, priceless, unforgettable, (so we think at the time) moments in life.  I wrote at Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's and Birthdays.  And I wrote to them any other time I thought of it when funny stuff came up, and I still do.  The focus was always on the kids and always on the good stuff.  I never wrote, "You were up 600 times last night and I have a headache the size of Mt Monadnock right now" 

So, now in this blog, I have begun writing what my thoughts and experience have been, because someday I may forget it all or not be here to tell them.  And now I head upstairs to kiss three Sleeping Beauties on noses, because that's what I do.  Because I don't want to put off till tomorrow what I can do tonight.