Renee Giugliano Photography

Not this past Saturday but the one before, I had caught a cold or something. I was the only one in the house to get this strange illness. I was sore one day, fine the next, tired then wide awake, hot then cold. It was weird, but it lasted the whole weekend and spilled into the week. I thought I was feeling fine and then BAM! By the afternoon I felt like I ran a marathon and was ready to pass out. It happened on Monday, Tuesday and finally on Wednesday I decided to just rest.I had woke up sore again and with little to no voice. Ack! I need my voice! So that was it, I need to do nothing and rest. That’s not easy for me to do. I have kids to get up and help get ready for school, I have laundry and dust to clean, proofs to work on, orders to package and/or ship, dinners to make… there is not rest time for this parent. (I’m sure a lot of you feel the same way, no time to rest)

But I did it. I did a few proofs in the morning and then my couch and I were buddies for the rest of the day. I turned on my diffuser, took my cold/flu bomb capsule and I even got to take a nap… say what?! By 3:00pm, I felt well rested and even got my voice back. Then… I was out the door. I coach a local elementary school’s tall flag team. They are a group of 4th & 5th graders. Every Wednesday we have practice for one hour. (This is another reason why I need my voice on this day) So as soon as my eldest walked into the door, I gave him instructions and walked out to the car and headed on over to the school. By the end of practice I was not only tired and sore, but my throat was hurting again and my voice was cracking. Oh, fun times. I had my oil spray with me and coated my throat as I headed home. I then fed the family and went back to resting.

Thursday morning I felt good, got up and started setting up for the day’s sessions: preschool & daycare portraits. These little ones are fun to work with, but it does take time and patience. It’s a lot of moving back and forth, standing up and sitting down, fixing, adjusting, encouraging and so on. I was definitely tired after it was all done, but I was not feeling too bad.

When it was time to pick up my daughter from the bus stop, I drove since my legs were feeling like limp noodles. Yeah, no one wants to see me trying to walk down the street wavering because I can’t walk straight. As my daughter walked up to me, she had tears in her eyes. Oh no, what happened? Mean girls happened. Yep, she’s just 6 years old, in the first grade and there is already drama. I don’t remember this type of stuff when I was her age. I know it and expect it when she is older, but really? The first grade?

She explained that an older girl and her have a mutual friend. The mutual friend is my daughter’s age and they just met this year because they are in the same class. Crazy enough, she lives right across the street from us. [Talk about the shame of NOT meeting your neighbors. They should have met years ago. I blame that on me. I have always been shy and very intimidated by meeting new people. Mostly by putting myself out there. I am sure lots of you who are my clients are wondering how that is since I have new clients in my home all the time for sessions. Maybe because it’s on my terms? I don’t know. Maybe I am just weird.] Anyway, I guess the elder girl wanted my daughter to stand in a particular spot so she (the elder) could be next to the mutual friend. My daughter didn’t want to move and a shove ensued. After being pushed, my daughter’s feeling were hurt and she let it all out when she got in our car.

Taken this morning (Mar 9th, 2015). These are the first blooms from a tree in my backyard.

“Why doesn’t she like me? I don’t understand. Why is she mean to me?” were the words she let out in between breaths and tears. Ugh… my heart sank. But instead of becoming angry and looking for the culprit so I could give her stank eye, I knew I had to focus on my child. We had the talk about “mean girls”. I gave her reasons as to why they may say the things they say, do those mean things and how she can avoid them or respond to them. With every word I spoke, my little girl, being the one who wants to be everyone’s friend actually came to this little girl’s defense. It’s so hard to explain these things to a little girl who just wants to love everyone and have everyone love her too. But in the end, she understood that she does not have to do anything she does not want to do. She must use her words first then walk away if needed. If leaving the area is not an option (like in a line), then she needs to turn the other way. But if someone pushes or hits her, she has every right to defend herself. I am not someone who condones fighting, but defending oneself is necessary. All my kids know that if someone else starts it, they are allowed to finish it. I will fully back them up. Now, if they are instigating and starting fights themselves, that’s a different story. I will finish that up at home. That behavior is not allowed.

The next day my little one was feeling better and ready to go to school. We went over some of our conversation and sent her off to school. As for me, I was more sore than the day before. My legs were beyond limp noodles. Every step was felt though out my whole body. But I had no time to complain, because I had more preschool and daycare sessions followed my model sessions. Five hours of non-stop pictures. Yeah… I was needing if support by the end of the day. To add a cherry on top, my eldest son came home with a note from his bus driver saying that he has been disruptive, rude and non-compliant on the bus. Oh joy… and I got a follow up call too. Fun times, NOT!

On Saturday morning, I was useless. My kids had to eat cereal instead of my usual waffles or pancake breakfasts on the weekends. I don’t even think I brushed my hair or got out of my pajama pants all day. I did put on a regular shirt. Not sure why, but I did. My couch was my friend again. Many apologies to my family as well as to the kids from Oak Harbor High School’s baseball team who were fundraising by selling coupon cards. Yep, I know I was a mess but I still bought a card! Got to support our local schools! 😀

Sunday was a lazy day, only because I was feeling better and my husband was not. Oops, I think I passed it on. None of my kids got it. Still no clue what it was. I did venture out to the newly opened Haggen store. My “quick” trip to the store ending up taking at least an hour do to very long lines and employees still learning the new systems. I totally deserve a t-shirt that says, “I survived the opening of Haggen!”

On this wonderful morning, I woke up to discover that someone turned the volume off on our alarm and my husband who gets up for work at 4:30am  was now an hour late. It was 5:30am when I looked at the clock. Oh no! He jumped up and got into the shower. I got up and walked to my kids’ bathroom. As I walked down the hall back to my room, I decided not to turn on an lights so I would not wake them up. Well, I turned right to walk into my room door and BAM! Hit the wall! Yep, just two days after laughing at Amanda Peet’s character who walked in a glass sliding door in “A Lot Like Love”, I walked into a wall. My left toe hurts but my face is fine. Your laughter is welcome.

Besides the aching toe, I do feel good this morning. So back to work I go. No sessions until later this week, so I will be working on proofs and catching up.