Nap time

Who would think that Mother of the bride had any time to rest just 2 days before the wedding? This began when Erica put together a schedule for all the out of town visitors and Sean put Steve's cell phone number in charge of coordinating all the events. Steve quickly changed his duty to coordination of all events starting with NAP. I realized that was really not such a bad thing since Mylo-Erica and Dan's puppy, got herself overexhausted just trying to keep up with the Newton family, swimming for balls and jumping off the dock non stop on the hottest day of the year. It was set. 1-4 daily naptime until the wedding-then we had made it, and all bets were off. Anyone was welcome to join in, and I especially thought that Steve would be first to demonstrate what naptime meant-not the case. Master gardener he remains-shoveling yards of new dirt around the gardens that are still being weeded and tended to.

Last weekend, just fresh from 3 days of forced down time in the hospital due to some sinus infection and low white blood cell counts, Erica, Steve and I went to Tanya's wedding in Levinworth at the Sleeping Lady Resort. The setting of inspirational mountains and babbling river sounded like the perfect get away. I was sooo happy just to get out into nature and double excited to be amoungst so many friends at the same time. I watched mother of the bride directing traffic, organizing break down and set up of food, scheduling, and playing in jam sessions (she is an accomplished violinist) and admired her energy. Thank God I hired a wedding planner for this event! It was exhausting just participating in a few events and I realized that everything happens for a reason. I really did need to be aware of over doing it.

I had 3 scheduled events for the day. Michael David was coming at 11am to style my wig (Cori had heard me say I wanted to try a different style for my hair and arranged for this home visit). Marilyn had called me to go to yoga yesterday and arranged to repeat the following day at noon. And lastly, 4pm rehearsal-oh yes, naptime 1-4. Guess that makes 4 scheduled events.

Mylo started talking about a month ago and is getting more verbal all the time. All the barking gets your attention alright, but it is annoying also. She gets in a state of adrenaline high and cannot hear you getting angry and upset as the conversation continues to be onesided. We discussed debarking her, but it seems so permanent and almost cruel, and ended up getting a bark collar that sprays some foul tasting liquid into her jowels when she barks. I am afraid we may have purchased it too late-it is gone before she quits barking, or else we cannot find the collar when we need it, and this has to be a consistant thing in the learning stages, and nothing is consistant right now. Someone mentioned to me that dogs get frenzied and cannot control the adrenaline for hours (they said 24 hrs, but I think that was an exageration) and need to calm down and get centered in order to not be so annoying. It occured to me that this is not so different from humans, but we can calm ourselves by noticing what makes our hearts beat faster and our adrenaline pump and take a nap or excuse ourselves from engaging in whatever activity it is we need to calm ourselves from. I forced Mylo to take a nap with me today to test the theory. She immediately jumped up on the bed and began attacking my bald head and licking my face. I grabbed the sweatshirt on the bed and covered my head and she pulled at the blanket ready to engage me in some fun. I held fast, remembering forced naps with Sean when he was 10 months old, and Mylo calmed down and plunked herself on top of my legs and gave into the naptime energy I was eminating. Rejuvenated by 4pm, I promised playtime when I returned from the rehearsal. Sometimes I find when I leave Mylo alone she is mischeivious and takes pillows off the sofa, or gets into whatever food is left out, but she was not left too long and we played "go find it" and "tug of war" when I got home. She started her barking, but I discovered if I just feed her treats and pay attention to her, she doesn't really need to talk. Her body language and energy level just needs to be addressed. Aren't we humans really the same?

I walked Mylo around the block but spent some time talking on my cell phone and catching up with friends who are all eager to help, thus slowing my pace of dog walking. Michael David and Cori were waiting for me as I walked into the house 3 minutes late and Mylo began her usual greeting of exhuberantly jumping on them both trying to engage them into play. I could already feel the schedule was getting tight in order to get to yoga by 12. No worries, I didn't HAVE to be at yoga-I just knew that it would be good for me to be there, and I had invited the Newtons to join me and Marilyn was expecting me so I didn't want to disappoint. The next 45 minutes were wonderful as we talked about hairstyles, first impressions, weddings, and relationships. Noon came along all too soon and bride, Erica, popped in to admire the hair and give me a ride to yoga. Yoga bliss it was-great stretches, relaxing and prelude for naptime and rehearsal. Take the time to just be in the moment, even if only just for a few moments.

The rehearsal brought new faces to the event as the bridesmaids had arrived from New York, Arizona, Latvia and California while I was napping. More joy and excitement as the musicians (all personal accomplished friends with talent) set up and discussed plans for their gifts of music to the event. Details were laid out and a joining of hands and blessing said and the kids disbanded all too soon to party on. I cannot wait for the symphony of Saturday when it all comes together in it's own unique way.