A Time to Waste
A whirlwind of a week turned into a tornado of a weekend and what’s sure to become another week of windstorms. Swept from one activity to the next I often wonder what keeps me somewhat grounded from day to day. My best guess is gravity but I’m not sure.
Monday of last week was the only somewhat normal day where I was able to work at my day job, Voyageur Canoe Outfitters. That day wasn’t completely normal because it ended up being a Snow Day for the children but at least I was at home.
Tuesday found me in Grand Marais for a Community Center Board meeting and a few hours of training so I can move up from being a First Responder to an EMT. Meanwhile Mike and Josh drove to Silver Bay for hockey practice before Mike was able to get to training.
Wednesday was an all day meeting of minds of the Cook County Community Center Steering Committee. This is an exciting board to be on because we get to help decide what the new community center will be like. That was from 8-4:30pm and then at 6 I made my way over to a friends to talk about the Ham Run Half Marathon and PTA for a bit.
Thursday involved a little bit of this and that. I took some photos for the kid’s yearbook I’m working on and gathered some information for the Scholastic Book Fair the PTA is putting on in February. Then we drove down to Silver Bay for another hockey practice and to watch a high school game before driving to Duluth.
The majority of Friday was spent at the Arrowhead EMS Conference in Duluth. More classes about medical emergencies but before that I had an interview with NBC. Before that my beautiful friend Melissa Jasper came to the hotel to offer me moral support as well as her arsenal of beauty supplies and expertise. She’s a hair stylist at Younkers in Duluth that I’ve been seeing for 17 years, the best in Minnesota if I do say so myself.
The interview was scary and I reminded myself of the people on all of those television shows where someone has stage fright and stares like a zombie into the camera unable to speak. Hopefully I got the point across that dealing with the Komen Foundation has been less than a good experience for me and for Mush for a Cure.
Saturday we drove back up to Silver Bay for a hockey game before turning around and heading south to St. Cloud to celebrate my dad’s birthday and Christmas with my family, better late than never.
Sunday was church with Mike’s parents and then a dance competition where I watched my niece’s team take 1st Place. A meal and then the vehicle pointed North once again with hopes of being in Grand Marais by 9pm.
Unfortunately a propane truck had tipped over and we spent about 90 minutes on Highway 61 sitting in our Suburban. This is where the waste of time came into play. I fidgeted knowing I couldn’t use my computer anymore because the battery was dead. I stressed because I had emails to send from my computer that I didn’t want to try to type into my phone. I whined and complained when the ambulance was allowed to return to Grand Marais when the GTVFD Fire Chief and wife(me) had to wait to pass. Then I realized a very important task could be completed while sitting in the Suburban.
The glove box and the middle compartment between the two front seats. The scary black holes that hide who knows what that’s been there for who knows how long and are used for who the heck knows? Those two compartments are now clean and organized because I had time to waste.
No more time to waste today because I want to meet about the Ham Run and get some Voyageur work done before going to the school to take more pictures for the yearbook. Then it’s get Josh ready for hockey practice and head to a Mush for a Cure meeting before watching the NBC Nightly News at 5:30pm at a friend’s house.
After that I hope I will be able to release the tension in my stomach that has been in knots since the taping of the interview questions on Friday morning. I hope I sound ok and the point about the Susan G. Komen Foundation wasting my time and their money will come out the way I want it to.
Stay tuned… NBC Nightly, 5:30pm today.