For me, it was this simple dessert. Individually wrapped Rice Krispie treats were piled high on a tray in the auditorium kitchen. Alone and untouched...
But the story starts several weeks ago when I agreed to make a dessert for a spaghetti dinner fundraiser hosted by Johanna's pre-school. I felt guilty that I had not been that involved with her pre-school because of my work schedule. Daddy is always the one who takes her and picks her up. So, I decided to chip in and signed up to bring a dessert.
Last night and this morning, I regretted the decision immensely. I was exhausted and fighting a cold. Adria woke up with a fever and crying in pain. I almost let it go and bailed on my commitment, but then I remembered all the notes that came home from the pre-school asking for people to bring dessert because not many had volunteered. I wanted to keep my word.
So, I kept it simple and made a tray of no-bake chocolate cookies and two trays of Rice Krispie treats. Now, if you are a mother who has young children and needs to get them ready for the day before heading to work...you know there is nothing simple about adding anything extra to your morning, like making dessert. But there I was rushing around this morning to get these made.
I left the house early to drive round trip more than 30 minutes to drop off the desserts at the pre-school first thing, as they requested. This barely left me time to make my important 9 a.m. meeting with a client at work. In not so professional fashion, I coughed and sneezed my way through the meeting...
It was a good but very full day at the office, and I really just wanted to come home and do nothing. But I had bought tickets to the spaghetti dinner, plus it meant I didn't have to think about what to feed the kids. My Dad came over, we packed up the girls and went to Seaford for the Spaghetti Dinner.
By the time we got there after 6:00 p.m., it appeared most people had eaten. There was just one tray out with desserts on it. I did not see mine, so I figured they had been eaten already...Good.
I was wrong. About an hour later, we packed up to leave. People were still milling about for a silent auction but dinner was over. There were still some desserts out, so I took one for the road.
Just then, a lady pipes up, "Help yourself and take some home. There is a lot leftover, they'll probably just get thrown away!"
She pointed toward the kitchen and there they were...my cookies and Rice Krispie treats. Piled high on a tray in the auditorium kitchen. Alone and seemingly untouched. There were a few other trays of desserts around them. It looked as if they had never even made their way out of the kitchen for people to eat.
And that was my undoing. This emotional, pregnant mama who seriously inconvenienced her morning to make and deliver these desserts could hardly bare the thought that all that effort was about to be TRASHED! All for nothing! I even told the poor, unsuspecting lady how upset I was about it.
She offered to box some up for me to take home, but I really just wanted to leave before I embarrassed myself and made a scene. I did take a couple pieces and kept my composure until we got to the van. And then it hit. That feeling of defeat and exhaustion. Over something so simple and silly as Rice Krispie treats that didn't get eaten.
But it was much more. It was the symbol of precious moments in a crazy, hectic week that felt wasted and lost.
- One week ago, I was in Savannah, Georgia preparing to run a half-marathon (which I will share more about) and I finished those 13.1 miles on Saturday.
- I watched my little Adria with spina bifida overcome the odds and successfully finish a 1/2 mile race on Sunday.
- I drove for over 13 hours to get home to Delaware late Monday.
- I spent most of Tuesday in the Children's Hospital 1.5 hours away to get my daughter a wheelchair and fitted for new leg braces.
- I had the craziness of back to school, back to work after vacation on Wednesday with an encouraging Parent/Teacher conference that night.
- I went into work early and stayed late on Thursday (sold a home and closed on a home in the process...yippee!) but missed most of the birthday dinner for my husband and his dad.
- Then today, my family all woke up not feeling well and just wanted to sleep.
Keeping your word and your commitment is an important thing. But today taught me that there are some days and moments when the right decision for myself and my family is to let this one go and trust that things will work out without me. There will be enough desserts if I don't make my Rice Krispie treats. But I won't be okay and my family will suffer if I don't take the time needed for US.
I hope this doesn't sound selfish or come across wrong. The spaghetti dinner was a great event and important for the Pre-school, and my little "drama" is honestly laughable as I think about how much it affected me.
But I know you've all got your crazy day, crazy week stories that sometimes end in the silliest of things causing us to lose our cool. The real irony is that we can endure some really serious, tough stuff and keep it all together. We can show strength and perseverance in moments of trouble. Then these meaningless incidents happen and remind us how fragile we can be. They also remind us to rethink priorities.
Just don't ask me to make Rice Krispie treats for a while :)
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