#SmallSuccess Thursday: Party Girl

This week has felt a lot like whiplash.

Hole myself up in the office by day, typing word after word of somewhat deep, tell-all prose for my next book manuscript. Turn down the lights. Enjoy the flicker of a candle and the silence.

And then shut down in the evening and go to what seems an endless cycle of holiday parties. Put on a sparkly sweater and boots that look ok but can withstand being on your feet for five hours. Smile, enjoy the company of friends you haven’t seen for months, and avoid the temptation to run back to your office, to what you’d really rather be doing.

It’s weird.

When in the moment, I love both of these preoccupations. While I’ve been fighting like the devil with this book project, my heart is in it. It’s a bit scary in a sense because it’s filled with quite a lot of honest self-disclosure. I’m not sure how much of that will be in the final version, but writing it out alternates between being terrifying and feel cathartic.

And I love the party stuff too. I LOVE my husband, and most of these events are related to his work. So it’s super fun to not only have the time in his company, but to see him shine. Because he works so diligently, he deserves every bit of the good that is coming his direction.

So small successes, let’s see:

Successfully got our Adam home from college. That was no small accomplishment given some serious travel tangles. But he’s home, which is a huge “hooray” moment. Hopefully his brother will make it home on Friday.
Speaking of the brother, SS #2 has to do with mom not flipping her lid too much over the Harvard bomb threat hoax this week. In the end, the kids were safe. I’ve taken advantage of the moment to speak with both sons about the fact that nothing in life is ever so serious that you should make a decision to do what Eldo Kim did. What a sad situation, on so many levels. My small success related to this was having heart-to-hearts not only with the boys, but also with some of their buddies. And being reminded to say, “I love you!” as frequently as possible is always a good thing. Too bad it has to be something like a bomb threat to remind you!
Chapter Six of eight is done. On the project that may never end. Here’s hoping that by next week, I can report that I’m almost finished with the first draft of my manuscript!

Now it’s your turn! Go to CatholicMom.com for all of the instructions.