I’m always frantic. I see that quality in other people and it drives me nuts. I prefer easygoing people who take life’s speed bumps in stride, which is why I married my husband.
But last week, I had a week that put all my other “I’m busy!” weeks to shame. And I would like a little freakin’ sympathy, please.
So, I haven’t been sleeping well since August. I’m a chronic insomniac and I’d had it under control, for the most part, until we were in Boston for my cousin’s wedding. It could have been the jet lag, or the fact that we finally said no to a little boy in China that we had already fallen in love with. Those seem like decent reasons to have trouble sleeping. But it’s OCTOBER. And my insomnia, which usually goes in two-to-three week cycles, is still going. I have a whole post about insomnia coming. It’s riveting, I promise you.
All right. Issue no. 1: I’m not sleeping. My doctor gave me this delightful drug cocktail “to get me over the hump,” and it makes me very groggy. It’s also partially intended as an antipsychotic. I can’t really think about that right now. Moving on, to …
Issue no. 2: I had a bad head cold. So I’m not sleeping, and I can’t breathe. I was thisclose to being addicted to Afrin, but I pulled myself back from the brink.
Issue (opportunity?) no. 3: I had to cover an event last week, write 750 words about it, and choose and caption 16 pictures. I’ve covered lots of events, but usually I’m covering the substance of the event — who says what, etc. This time, it was coverage from a social angle. Who was at this event? What bright and interesting things did they say at the VIP reception? I went overboard on my prep for the event, and then doped myself up on Sudafed and went to cover it. It’s difficult to be smart when you’re on Sudafed, but I did my best. Still, the whole thing stressed me out, and I wasn’t exactly calm to begin with.
Issue no. 4: It was conference week at Bini’s school, so they got out early every day — 11:45 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and on Friday, they had NO SCHOOL AT ALL. For an insomniac with a deadline who may be addicted to Afrin, this is difficult.
And then … on Thursday, right before I walked in to see a matinee screening of “The Boxtrolls” with my kid and his friend, I got a call from our adoption agency. They had a file for us to look at — and we had 72 hours to respond.
Holy shit. I mean, really. HOLY SHIT.
This week looks to be better. I filed my story and did my captions and made my deadline. We said no to the file from China, because we couldn’t make an informed decision in the time allotted (See? Everyone was right! It DOES get easier and easier to pass on human beings!). Bini is in school ALL week, regular time, so I can catch up on all the stuff that I fell behind on last week, like returning e-mails and transferring wet clothes into the dryer. Things are looking up.
But I’d still like some sympathy, damn it. Thank you.
the swift kick 