For a time my husband and I were considering “Good Hearted Woman” for our wedding song. While we are both fans of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, it was the lyrics that really rang true for us — “she’s a good-hearted woman in love with a good timin’ man.”
Yes, yes I am. In the end we selected a favorite Ray Charles song, but there’s generally not a day that goes by that I don’t consider those other lyrics.
Last week my husband was to begin painting our basement as part of a remodeling project. Rather than dive into the task at hand (he even had a friend who offered to help) he bought a new gaming system.
The entire painting fiasco threw a number of plans out the window. Since he decided to dedicate a full day to gaming, and then had a business trip, a full week went by with no progress.
As I write this, I’m sitting on our patio in between loads of laundry. I’m supposed to be in Kansas City relaxing with my husband on a trip we planned several months ago — before we realized it was Easter weekend. The gaming, the business trip and zero progress on painting meant that trip was canceled, just a day before we were supposed to leave.
Meanwhile, I’ve been in quite the tailspin trying to plan to be out of town, and nailing down several aspects to make sure our kids still had a nice Easter. As it turned out, I failed in that task (gasp) but had other major things crossed off the list — getting plans for the kids, a reservation to have the dog boarded, etc.
If you’re not making a Target run on Good Friday for Easter baskets, you’re doing it wrong. At least that’s what I told myself, and was quite reassured of that fact as I squeezed through tight isles filled with mothers in search of the right candy.
In the end it was a relief that we weren’t leaving town. We’ve always celebrated Easter in Newton, attending Mass in the morning, partaking in the annual egg hunt at Sacred Heart Church and then a traditional Easter meal. (I’d be remiss if I didn’t insert that even the egg hunt was different this year — bags of candy and other goods were distributed instead.)
When your family has a tradition, it’s hard to change those plans. We’d also always spent the Fourth of July in Newton until a family reunion took us out of town last year. While we had an absolute blast on our trip, it was still hard for me to do something different.
My mother tells me I need to be more versatile with plans — she mentioned this on Saturday after she told me she and my father had decided to go home instead of stay with us through Easter weekend. Another change in plans!
Yet, there were some good things that came from all of these turns of events. I slept in two days in a row, which is not only amazing but also completely unheard of. Then I lounged and relaxed a bit, ran errands, did some shopping and some housework.
The best part was spending Easter with my husband and kids, just like we do every year. Now, I just need to brace myself for the next adventure with my good timin’ man.
Contact Abigail Pelzer at
641-792-3121 ext. 6530
or apelzer@newtondailynews.com