Trying to Figure Things Out

Have you ever spent a few hours simply trying to figure things out? Things like, what you are going to cook for dinner this week or when (if ever) and where your next vacation will be or how to get your kid more birthday invitations? Have you ever struggled to understand your teenager or your socially impaired child? An illness? A badly behaved pooch?

I spend a lot of time trying to figure out our lives. Like last night, lying sleepless in bed worrying about money. And after I was finished worrying about money, fretting about losing weight. And when I finished there, cogitating about the expensive place town we live in, and what would happen in terms of Benjy's school placement and Saskia's social life, if we were to live somewhere else. And then the horrid, horrid ear worm set in. (Dare I say it? the sound track to --aargh! -- Titanic, which I had the misfortune of hearing yesterday while sitting with Saskia, waiting for the Hunger Games to start.)

By the time I got to sleep last night it was, oh, 3 a.m. or so. And then I had bad dreams about -- well, never mind.

I still have not sorted things out. (Anyone have any thoughts on how to stretch $47 for a week? If so let me know.) But my optimism is irrepressible, which is why I keep going through the exercise of figuring things out. Someday it's going to work.

In the meantime, Benjy has a looong get-together with a friend today, and my bestie, Anke, is coming from Connecticut to hang with me. She, Saskia and I will have a girl's day out on Newbury Street while the rest of the world -- well, the Christians in the world -- eats ham and potatoes and whatever else you eat on Easter.

We're hoping Starbucks will be open. Not that I'll be drinking. Not on $47 that's got to last till Friday. But I'll be having a blast, and so will Benjy and Saskia, which you can do on $0.00 per day. I don't know what Lars will be up to, but if I had to guess I'd say jogging and then snoozing.

Happy Passover and Easter, peeps!