A Calm

It's easy in the Apple to bite off more than you can chew.

I recently came back from two conferences and have all these ideas for new projects shelved in my head. The disappointing part is that I haven't had time to put these new endeavors in motion. I'm itching. Aching. Begging. excited, to get started. But when? how?

A very smart Army wife once told me that the most productive people in the world are military wives whose spouses are deployed. No words rang truer.

But do we really need to throw our husbands' in the line of fire just so we can get some peace and quiet and productivity on the homefront? Okay, fire may be too extreme. And a year may be too long. And overseas may be too far. So the "deployment" cons may outweigh some of the pros. But I think you get what I mean here.

Let's face it. Some of our soldier boys feel a sense of excitement to get out their and do their thing. It's perfectly normal for spouses to, in some ways, feel that way too.

The truth is, sometimes, we do.

I'm starting to think that another alternative to the deployment/productivity scale... will be the Police Academy/productivity scale. Will it work? It better, or I'll just be miserable. We shall see in the next few weeks.

Superman leaves for the Academy then, and while I fear for his safety and well-being (seriously, the orientation proved these "other" men in uniform are no joke), I'm looking forward to that same "deployment" productivity I had when Superman-the-soldier deployed overseas.

While Superman was deployed overseas I held two jobs while in graduate school full-time. I lived on my own (with a pretty swell roommate) and racked up $0 in student loans. I received two fellowships. I surrounded myself with friends who kept me sane whenever, in between all of this productivity, I could hear the seconds tick. I never felt closer to them than I did then.

It sounds crazy saying it now, but I didn't feel a crazy rush to do everything all at once (though it looks like it). Instead, I felt this sense of calm and control over the things I knew I could accomplish with the time I was given to myself.

This time, Superman will be gone for six months. I know there's a lot to be done. A personal essay that is currently a blank page with a ticking cursor staring at me. Two websites to create. A few project wheels to put into motion.

I welcome the calm.