When I was in Third Grade....I decided to form a girls' club in my class called the "Busy Bees." I'm not sure why I picked the name or even the purpose of the club...but I just wanted to form a girls club where we could wear cute a costume....a yellow and black t-shirt with an antennae head band. Every other month, my grammar school allowed you to wear regular clothes instead of a uniform. For the start of the Busy Bee Club, a couple of girlfriends and I wore black and yellow shirts with a bouncing antennae head ban. I don't remember exactly what happened, I do know my mother was called in and I was taken out to the schoolyard by my severe third grader teacher, a nun who always frightened me. My mother was essentially told to go home and get different clothes for me and since I was the "President" of the Busy Bees, I got scolded for dressing in costume. I remember being both embarrassed and confused. What did I do wrong? What was wrong with the club or our striped t-shirts? I'm not sure I ever figured what rule or what insurrection they thought I would start...I think my club's objective was to giggle and dress cute but the Busy Bees Girl Club was disbanded.
I stopped in at Target this morning after an appointment... and stopped in my tracks.....there was a "Busy Bee" shirt on the rack! Obviously, it was part of a Halloween costume, but I looked and touched and smiled at the shirt....and thought of my dangerous little girls club full of little busy bees getting on the wrong side of Sister Severe.
Now at home, I'm sorry I didn't buy that shirt....because the last three weeks of my life I have certainly been in "Busy Bee" Mode.
My bat mitzvah is 12 days away. I actually try not to think about it because I get nervous. I practice every day now and know I know my prayers and Torah portion but I realize that nerves and too much adrenalin could give me a brain freeze or make my lips rubbery or make me sail through the whole ceremony without a hitch.
I keep trying to remember that one of the outcomes could be I will do VERY WELL. In fact, I decided to start visualizing myself doing well....seeing myself maybe fumbling a tiny bit....but overall leading the service and doing my parts competently. I keep telling myself that competence is an option....that it's not all about slipping and falling or have a brain freeze. I also try to remember that the 100 or so folks who will be there are all routing for me. I know they want me to succeed and they realize how hard it is for an adult to carve out the space and time to be involved in such a ceremony.
My bat mitzvah partner and I divided up the luncheon after the ceremony into a decorating section and food section....I was lucky and got the decorating portion. This won't be too hard because I'm keeping it simple....no disco balls, animal acts or show tunes.....we'll just have very pretty lanterns on half the table and the other tables will have a gigantic pot of fall mums on it. Very simple. If I was coordinating this luncheon for someone else....I'd do a bit more....but the setting will be in a room with floor to ceiling windows and the trees in about two weeks should start showing their colors. No need to compete with Mother Nature here....besides after a two hour ceremony....people will be hungry and thinking food not decorations.
I'm also preparing for orthopedic surgery. Ha. Nothing like being told you need an operation to walk better and feel better. After thinking and thinking on it....I decided why wait? And so about two weeks after my bat ....I will be heading for surgery and 8 weeks of down time. I have the goal of being able to walk well and be physically active by May, since I've rented a Beach House and plan to stroll along the sand and have a great family vacation. But since I'm Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Organizer of our household ....there's a lot of things to get ready and organized. It's sort of like the Government Shutdown....you can coast for a few days just fine.....things start getting iffy in a week to 10 days....and then things get real dicey if you're not in business and not prepared. So I have a secondary list of things to do and places to go to get ready for the procedure. Fortunately, my daughter is coming home for a week and a half....and she's a great help with a good eye for detail ....so I'll have a helper in getting the decorations ready for the bat and help with a few things around the house.
Oh...and of course, I'm on jury duty during all this too. I got called in immediately for a murder trail involving a policeman and an unarmed teenager. I probably would have been good for the jury pool since I was out-of-town last year when the incident happened so I never saw news coverage or the fall out from the event. The judge had already gone through 100 potential jurors when my group got called up. I mentioned to my husband the day before court that I was being screened for the case and he told me because of his job....he was testifying for someone in his department...that's an immediate disqualification from the jury pool.
But I still had to sit in the court house all afternoon till it was my section's time to appear before the judge. Then the bailiff asked if there were people who couldn't serve for three weeks (the expected length of the trail) or had a valid excuse for not serving. I walked up to the front of the court room, approached the bench and the judge asked my name. When I told him, he said, "Oh no no no, your husband will be testifying and you can't serve." My name was immediately crossed off and the next day in the news paper when they identified reasons people were excluded....it said something like....the wife of XXXX was excused as XX will be testifying. I was only a little pissed because they didn't list my name ...just listed me as "the wife of XXX." lol. Well, thanks heavens cause I wouldn't be insane if I was in court every day for 8 hours during this time frame......but I still have to call in each week....and still have to bite my nails as to whether or not....if I'll have to spend a day or two at the courthouse each week. So far so good. But each Wednesday morning, I bolt upright in bed and wonder what will happen.....will I hear the wonderful words, " No jury trial this week"....or....."Please arrive by 10am Thursday morning."
And so my life buzzes on here.....Busy Bee supreme....even without a costume.
