The “Gift” of Chaos

So yes, we moved on Friday.

I did not run on Saturday as planned. I could not run. I was on my feet all night Friday… and Saturday was not a chance…

Luckily, Sweet Red and her husband had offered to let the Swim Bike Kids have a sleepover with their kids, so the Expert and I were able to make huge progress on the unpacking. We unpacked for a solid ten hours, and by Saturday evening, every box had been opened and only a few remained unpacked.

So we went to retrieve our kids…and to meet Sweet Red’s family for dinner. At Uncle Julio’s.  Which is not an organic salad place, in case you were wondering.

Ignore the booze in my hand. It was calorie-free.  Okay.  So whatever. But I can tell you it was well-deserved.

The Expert and I fell into bed, feet hurting, and woke up early on Sunday to unpack more.

Sunday, I did not ride. I just unpacked and moved and shuffled. I now call “moving” a version of Cross Fit.

Don’t think I just “skipped” the workouts. I did no such thing. I had talked to Coach M. And I was granted Coach Monster’s permission to take care of my move, my family and to pick up with the workouts Monday. I wasn’t happy about skipping, but I swear to you… I swear on my 2013 SBM Tri Kit that I could not do that Saturday and Sunday workout. I was bone tired.

And the whole time we were moving… all I could think: “I’m glad I’m a triathlete now. I can’t imagine how hard this would be for the ‘me’ from 5 years ago.”

On Sunday night, I had my gym bag packed. I was going to the gym first thing Monday morning to try maybe a 7, 8 or 10 mile run. Wasn’t sure. My feet were killing me.

But I was gonna give it my all.

The Expert and I had a good dinner, went to bed early.

But then it started in the wee hours of Monday morning….

The boy child woke up came into our room after midnight, and proceed to throw up… ON ME. On the side of my arm, on my face, in my hair.

Shortly thereafter, the girl child followed. Luckily, we saw it coming, so the trashcan and towels were prepared.

Guess they had my “food poisoning” from last week. Yeah right.

The Expert was starting his job yesterday.  He had not been puked upon, but he was faring no better as each bathroom trip with the kids took screaming and wailing and a whole show… he was not sleeping either, as the boy child was in the bed with him.  [The boy child is the one we call The Baby Wolverine.]

I was in bed with the girl child, who was whimpering, and we fell asleep finally somewhere around 5:45.  I heard the alarm go off at 6:45 for the Expert.  I could not move.

Another workout obliterated. Another day at work missed. Two very sick munchkins.

Between whining and pitiful and crying babies, I was lost. I was taking care of them. Snuggling and crying with them. The girl child wouldn’t let me put her down.

We had some issues with the rental house, and since I was home with the kids, all the craziness was being addressed at once:

1) clogged sink in the kitchen
2) overflowing/clogged toilet in the bathroom
3) broken furnace
4) dripping faucet
5) new cable/internet install

All “fixers” arrived at the same time.

At one point yesterday, I was directing the maintenance guy (who spoke no English) to the bathroom and pointing to the HVAC guy to fix the furnace (he, who spoke a little Korean, and helped me talk to the maintenance guy)… I was holding a trashcan in front of my little buddy and rubbing my princess’ back… and texting to Sweet Red something along the lines of crying Emoji emoticons and poop.  Oh, and I was actually working from home.

Then a little while later, I had our landlord and propery manager in the front yard digging a hole, looking for the water shut-off. The maintenance guy carrying in a new toilet and the young hot cable guy and the HVAC guy were all rushing in and out of the house.  The two sick kids were laying in the middle of it all—the boy child who continuously was suffering from mad gas… and was totally fart-bombing the entire house, poor little dude.  I felt embarrassed for him.  The cable guy was young and obviously without kids because he was absolutely appalled at my stank situation. And somewhere during all this, the Allstate Insurance guy showed up.

I cursed at the Allstate guy, “Really? What now?”

He had no idea.

But then I talked to a wonderful woman at Cox Sanitation in Sandy Springs about trash pickup. And I am giving them a shameless plug, because she was the only sane part to my day.  I told her what was going on at my house, because she was concerned at the crying children and the screaming in another language happening in the background.  But we needed trash service. So there I was.

“Honey, I ain’t gonna worry you with another thing. Here’s what we do… here’s what it cost.  And we’ll come get your junk tomorrow…”

I coulda kissed her through the phone.

As the kids slowly came out of the sick coma around dinner time and the Expert came in from his first day on the job (and I proceeded to yell at him, completely unintentionally, but more like, I had not been able to release my pressure valve all day…), I actually was relieved to see that we had survived the move, survived the “jungle plague” (as my friend Paige calls it), and all in all had a good thing going in our new place.

[Albeit our new place which appears to be a rental house money pit…]

Find the good in the chaos. If you wait until it’s “calm” you will never make changes. You will never grow…You can handle the chaos. It’s allllllll good…

…the things I said to myself yesterday…

As I went to bed last night, I realized that I was able to take care of important things and all that mattered was getting those babies well.

But I also said another little prayer: Lord help me find my Ironman focus again.  Because I feel pretty darn lost with all that’s been going on. I can’t see how I will find the focus again in the midst of all of these new changes. If I had only been able to get in a run this weekend. Something.  But I couldn’t. Truly couldn’t.

…but I do know… that I am picking up my kids from school/daycare today for the first time ever. And I am exctied about that.

And I did get a swim and run in the books this morning. Part of the Ironman dream smoldered before my eyes during the workouts… I’m just hanging on dearly, and praying for the Ironman fire to ignite. And fast.