Living the Dream

This is Jessie’s weekly calendar:

Far from languishing at home alone trolling the internet and sneaking bad food, Jessie is very busy. Thanks to the help and inspiration given by her friends, family members, and mentors at her PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope, or futures planning) in the spring, Jessie seems to be “living her dream.” Or at least that’s what she said last week. Of course, this could also be attributable to being madly in love (thank you Drummer Boy!), when the whole world takes on a rosy glow!

I, however, am exhausted! All the training and the figuring out and the teaching is taking a toll on my psyche and our bank account (hours not worked)! You see all those little open white spaces on the wall calendar? Those are the “getting there” and “getting back” spaces, which a) take a lot of time because Jessie is taking the bus and b) taking even more time because I’ve been teaching her how to take the bus and hence end up being out for hours at a time.

Talking to my friend CG the other day, I said I thought it would be manageable (i.e., I might actually be able to get some real work done in a reasonable amount of time) when we had all settled into this new routine.

“But Nancy,” she said (ever the realist, ever the friend), “It’s already the end of October.” Then she handed me some tissues to wipe up my tears and suggested we go have lunch at Costco.