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By Robyn Roark
Frills or not, birthday parties are a lot to manage on top everything else I am managing right now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to plan my son’s birthday party. It’s the shopping, the organizing, the set-up, and my least favorite, the clean-up that always seem to leave me in a big ball of stress by the end of the party.
To get everything ready, I am taking a sick day today. My company offers unlimited sick days and I rarely take one. I’m much more inclined to work from home during any illness and stay on top of my work. Earlier this year, I lost my voice for 3 days but continued worked out of the comfort of my bed while starting a high profile project. I rarely let illness slow me down.
So how can this birthday party bring me to a dead stop?
I want the day to be a special one for my son. And I don’t want to be up until midnight or up at 6am trying to get everything ready. Parties are supposed to be fun. I’d like to get to enjoy some of that fun and not be worried about if we have enough juice boxes.
That leads me back to the un-sick sick day. Today, I’m unofficially sick. With my blackberry on at all times, I’ll still be able to mange any crisis that pops up. But you won’t find me at the office or at home. I’ll be at the craft store, the party store, the discount supply store. I’ll be ordering the 25 pizzas (did I mention we have a large extended family). I’ll be digging through my recipe book for the punch recipe that we all love but I can never remember the easy ingredients.
I’ll be getting everything organized, prepped, and ready to go for my son’s big day. With everything out of the way today, I’ll be able to live in the moment during the party tomorrow. I’m not only baking the cake but I’ll be enjoying it too!
I may not be physically sick but taking this day sure is good for my stress level and my sanity.
Robyn Roark writes the Full Time, All the Time blog at Work It, Mom!, an online community for working moms.
