Day 52 - "What will this day be like, I wonder?"

"What will my future hold, I wonder?"  Yes, I'm quoting for some I known reason from "The Sound of Music".  Why, I don't know since I can't stand this musical and may never forgive e my husband for making me watch it so many times! But, I do like this one scene in which Julie Andrews (who I also can't stand, please don't hate me but ... that hairstyle for her entire life?  Really??) stands at the door to the convent and sings this ONE song that I do like.  Why will this day be like, I wonder? What will my future hold, I wonder?"  

Here I am, trying to change my future.  Annie Dillard wrote, "how we live our days is, of course, how we live our lives."  So when I look at my life and how I need to change it, what I must see is that I have to change it THIS DAY.  It's the choices I make today that will decide not only what this day will be like, but what my life will be like.  

Bummer.  

I want to live moderately undisciplined and unproductive days, making bad choices all along the way, but still have an extraordinary life.  

These are not encouraging thoughts to begin a Monday morning with!  (Or ... "with which to begin a Monday morning?"  Have they decided you can end a sentence with a preposition or not??)

I have a big day ahead of me.  I have to do tons of research on the house and make a lot of phone calls regarding it, catch up on emails, check on this homeless guy, pack up a bunch of things to return, and buy some face care products.  I am completely out because I keep dithering between philosophy and Wexler.  Either way, I have to drive down to the mall which will be a forty minute round-trip drive!  There's  enough on my to-DO list that I couldn't go to sleep last night.  

But, so far, today has started out well despite the late night.  I actually woke up before my alarm!  This never happens!  So I am up and dressed, but back in bed to put on my makeup because it is so cold!  

So, what will my day be like?  For the most part I am the one who decides the answer to the question with each choice I make throughout this day.  I'm still so used to being a mom and having my day based, basically, on the lives of others.  Having my hours dictated to me.  The kids have to be waked up at this time.  Taken to school at this time.  Picked up at this time.  Find out they have a project due tomorrow and don't have the supplies so we have to chase around town to find them.  Dinner cooked by this time.  Dishes washed.  Kids to bed.  

Yes, it's been quite a while since the kids were in school, but I think those years still impact me.  And, frankly, a 22-year-old daughter who lives at home can take up almost as much time!  Add the demands of a university president's life on top of that, and I'm still rolling with the punches.  An art show at this time, a concert, a meeting, a speech, a dinner, a luncheon ....  So, let the games begin!  I'll check back in at the end if the day to tell you how things fared.  

Oh, before I go.  I had that mammogram done Friday and my breasts were just mauled by this older women, putting them I the right place and all that.  She invited me to look at the images afterwards because she was impressed by how much dense breast tissue I had! (Now, that's a compliment you don't hear every day!  Thank heavens!) anyway, she figured out who I was and said, "oh, you're the one who's moving to New York, right?"  And it turns out that her granddaughter goes to our university and is in the band.  Since we are big band enthusiasts and since she is in the front ensemble of the marching band, she probably knows who I am.  I just hope that the dinner time conversation didn't turn into, "Oh, I gave Mrs. McNichols a mammogram today!  She has a surprising amount of dense tissue in her breasts for a woman her age!"

Cheers!
Lisa