Blocks of time

Jack and I both got our second Covid vaccines on Friday.  Good Friday.  Long before we went for our shots, I knew and anticipated there may be a couple of days after that we'd be out of commission.  Although our symptoms from our first shots were mild - as we only had sore arms - I'd heard many stories about the reaction to the second one being worse.  So I knew - just for a few days - we might need to chill.  Just for that "block of time".
I learned many years ago through the observation of someone that we seem to live our lives within "blocks of time". 
I was talking to this friend on the phone during our very busy days in Georgia.  We both had full time jobs, a very busy son, hockey schedules, softball schedules, tennis schedules, PTA schedules, not to mention just busy social times with friends.  We always had a full calendar.  Sometimes things could double up and it would be a bit overwhelming. On the phone that day, I shared with my friend that the next week or so was very busy, but "when we get past that, things will settle down."  Let me start by saying, things never settle down.  Those of us from the 70's can remember Rosanne Rosanna Danna saying, "It just goes to show you, it's always something!"  Just typing that makes me giggle out loud.   But, back to the phone conversation.  My friend finally said to me that every time we talked, I always seemed to have some "block of time" to get through and survive. Well that was a light bulb moment.  An "a-ha" moment.  A sit back in my chair and look at Alan Weller and say "wow" moment.  (yes, that happened once, too) All the alarms going off.  I realized, she was right.  Don't we all have lives that are just one block of time after another?  Things coming up on our calendars.  Family parties or events. Doctors appointments. Between my mom, Jack and I we had 15 various kinds of appointments in March.  That block of time went by fast.   Vacations. Except in 2020.  Come to think of it, 2020 and early 2021 has been one big long, continuous block of time.
As for our most recent block of time that we had to survive from our shots, Jack and I had a lot of symptoms on Saturday.  We both had headaches, fever, chills, sore arms. fatigue.  We both survived though.  He woke up Sunday "feeling great".  I could have smacked him, because I did not.  I felt better, but no where near great.  I didn't start really feeling better until Monday evening. Today - Tuesday - I still have a very itchy arm.  Not as sore, but itchy.  And a bit of a "tight" head.  But, overall, I'm feeling much better.  I'm probably lingering more since midway between the first shot and the second, I got the delayed "Covid arm".  Redness, hot, tender to the touch and very itchy.  This came on about day 13 and lasted about 5 days.  My research shows that this seems to follow the Moderna vaccine, which is what we got.  Jack did not get Covid arm, just me.  Lucky me.  That only meant that I should have the second shot in the other arm.  I did.  So now I'm pretty sure that eventually BOTH arms will fall off.  I hope this isn't my last blog, since typing without arms would be difficult.
But, I digress, as usual.   So, I'll digress again.  As for learning that things never really settle down, this has taught be to stay ahead of the game.  Something always pops up on an empty calendar.  So I try to stay ahead.  Especially with the things that I know will just keep coming.  Such as the mail.  Deal with it each day.  Here's a helpful hint from Gail: open it next to the trash can since that's where most of it goes anyway. As for the part that doesn't make the trash can, deal with it right away.  File it, record it, stack in the "to pay" file, whatever works just deal with it at that time.  Same with e-mails.  Check daily, (there's a trash can right there, too) and deal with or respond to the rest.   Laundry.  Stay as ahead of that as you can because it will keep coming no matter what.  Clean the kitchen?  I tend to take my friend Beth's approach on that one.  There's really no need to clean the kitchen more than once a day.  But, I do try to clean it up for sure, once a day.  Sometimes all that gets behind.  Sometimes that can't be helped.  But when I can stay ahead, I try to.  Some people look at me and think I'm very organized.  Little do they know this is really just a character flaw for someone who can't function at all when overwhelmed. And I do mean sit in a chair with a dazed look on my face - overwhelmed.
But back to those pesky blocks of time that we all trudge through.  Such as our busy appointment filled March.  Because of that, March seemed to come and go fast.  And it just proves that even though our blocks of time can seem like mountains that we have to conquer, let's not forget to enjoy the journey.  Let's not try to hurry it all along and just get past the next block of time.  Stack your blocks wisely.