I love the idea of taking days to recognize our parents. Good golly, I would probably die without my mom. She’s always been so great. I know I definitely needed her as a kid- depending on her for all my physical and emotional needs. We were always always always well taken care of. The funny thing is though, even though I’m all grown up and on my own, I feel like I need my mom just as much now, especially because I’m a mother myself. I don’t think I can count the number of times I’ve called her all in a frenzy, worry and anxiety weighing down my voice, asking how to best handle yet another mothering situation that I’m clueless about. I’m so lucky to have such a wonderful example of both a mother and a kind, generous, righteous, and selfless woman.
This mother’s day was hectic yet nice. My sweet baby girl came into my room bearing a gift bag, accompanied by a big smile and a twinkle in her eye.
“Here, mommy!”, she chirped in her tiny voice. “I have a su-pwise for you!”
Good heavens, do I need any other gift after such a sweet visual of a darling little girl who is happy to please her mother? Even with the exasperating negotiations and power struggles, just having her in my life is the greatest gift I could ask for.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, sometimes the Internet makes things so very muddled thanks to the massive availability of everyone’s opinion. Many in the world do not value motherhood. Happily, many do and I think that more and more women are embracing it after the previous decades of trying to stuff it into a box labeled “family” and not letting the corporate world see it, lest a career be damaged. Many recognize motherhood as being of the divine, and not merely limited to those who have borne children but extended to those who nurture all of God’s children. I recently read and loved this article from Sheri L. Dew. So many beautiful reminders for women, both those currently with and without children of their own!
One of the opinions that I’ve come across on the Internet is debates within my own faith about whether women are discriminated against and repressed because they do not hold the Priesthood. In my heart of hearts, I have not felt that this is so. But by feeling that way, am I falling prey to old-fashioned and incorrect notions and turning away from the feminist ideas that I am typically passionate about? Despite feeling peace over the fact that worthy men hold the Preisthood and I do not, am I somehow wrong in this and should be outraged over gender inequality, as many other female bloggers are? No, I don’t think so. I think that if, as faithful women, we feel that way we are forgetting something vitally important about our roles on this earth and in heaven as well as our very natures. Sister Dew puts it best:
“President Gordon B. Hinckley stated that ‘God planted within women something divine.‘ 6 That something is the gift and the gifts of motherhood. Elder Matthew Cowley taught that ‘men have to have something given to them [in mortality] to make them saviors of men, but not mothers, not women. [They] are born with an inherent right, an inherent authority, to be the saviors of human souls … and the regenerating force in the lives of God’s children.’7
Motherhood is not what was left over after our Father blessed His sons with priesthood ordination. It was the most ennobling endowment He could give His daughters, a sacred trust that gave women an unparalleled role in helping His children keep their second estate. As President J. Reuben Clark Jr. declared, motherhood is ‘as divinely called, as eternally important in its place as the Priesthood itself.‘ ”
Some might say that Mother’s Day is a nice way to honor the woman who birthed and raised us. The cynical might even say that is is just another ploy by retailers to con you into buying pricey cards and flowers. Personally, I’d like to think of it as a day not only to honor the kind women in our lives and kiss the cheeks of the little ones who depend on us, but also to remember the divine calling all women have to nurture and lead God’s children home again.
Book review time! I’m starting to fall behind on what I’ve read, so time to play catch up.
(Image from amazon.com)
About a year ago we were visiting a kind and generous friend and looking at his book collection, where we happened to see the famous Stieg Larsson series. We’d heard a lot about it and inquired of our friend if it was worth reading, and lo and behold, the next day he showed up fresh from the bookstore with the first book for us. Isn’t that nice? That kind of thoughtfulness is rare these days, I think. I need to do stuff like that more often.
Anyway, the husband read it first and for about a week if he wasn’t completing some sort of necessary task he was perched on the couch, or a dining room chair, or a the stairs, or in bed, or leaning against the counter, reading his heart out. My husband, the former non-reader. He agonized over the fact that we were not reading the book at the same time, and therefore could not freak out over the plot together. He could not wait to talk about it with me once I got to reading it the next week.
The book is most certainly engrossing. A definite “page turner”, because holy heck, you cannot rest until you figure out the mystery! I flew through the book because I was anxious to find out how it ended. It was well written, and it blows my mind that anyone can come up with such intricate story lines and make it all work. I liked learning more about the Swedish culture too, although those crazy names and words threw my brain for a loop every time I read them. Usually in my mind instead of trying to make sense of the pronunciation my brain would interpret more along the lines of some sort of strange, muffled sound. I know, I’m so scholarly!
That being said, for me the book was just…ok. I didn’t love it. That genre is just not my style. Many parts of the book were quite graphic and gory (it was a murder/mystery type book, after all). I do not enjoy crime dramas on TV or scary movies in any form. In fact, I will purposefully go out of my way to avoid such things. Life is scary and stressful enough as it is, so why go seeking more as “entertainment”? That’s my philosophy, anyway. This book also had quite a few scenes that portrayed violence towards women, which I do not enjoy in any way, shape, or form (although the victim got some sweet revenge…).
So, if you’re into mystery/thriller type stories, this book might be right up your alley. For me, though, I don’t know that I will continue with the series. I’m more of an Anne of Green Gables type of girl, you know?
This last year has been a difficult one for me. Not in an epic-catastrophic-event kind of way, as I know others around the world have experienced, which I am grateful for. Instead, the best way I can describe it is that I’ve been walking my way through a gray mist, with some stumbling blocks along the way, and longing to see the sunshine again. It hasn’t been bad, but I’ve felt very much in limbo, as if I’m not progressing but instead stuck treading water and waiting for the good things to come. I know the good things will come someday, and for now it is my opportunity to work on the stuff on the inside, so I can be prepared for the good things on the outside when the day comes.
A couple of months ago as I was picking up toys (again) and listening to the TV on in the background, I heard a commercial that I haven’t seen since but it hit me like a ton of bricks and has been the mantra in my head ever since. The narrator said something along the lines of, “Every good pilot knows that in order for a plane to take off you can’t run in front of the wind. Rather, you have to turn into the wind…”
Sometimes I find myself running in front of the wind, wondering why I’m getting tired but nothing is happening. Turning into the wind is hard. It’s easier to run with the wind at your back, or easier yet, lie down. Sometimes it feels like it is going to knock you right off your feet. Sometimes it might. But it isn’t until we turn into that resistance and push forward with all our might that we finally get the lift we need to fly.
The other day one of my favorite bloggers posted a poem that she had found through yet another blogger in a time of need.
If All The Skies
If all the skies were sunshine
Our faces would be fain
To feel once more upon them
The cooling splash of rain
If all the world were music
Our hearts would often long
For one sweet strain of silence,
To break the endless song.
If life were always merry,
Our souls would seek relief,
And rest from weary laughter
In the quiet arms of grief.
-Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)
I was so grateful this person had decided to post this poem, because it helped me dust myself off after feeling knocked down again. As I’ve read posts and spoken with other friends, I know I’m not the only one “turning into the wind” and sometimes finding the resistance to be too much. I hope these words bring the same small amount of comfort to you as they did to me. I hope that someday soon we’ll all have our chance to soar.
A few months ago I discovered a new workout program that I loved. It was challenging, it was interesting, I could do it at home, and I was seeing results! At last! An exercise routine I loved! Only there was one problem: after a couple of months I started noticing this weird pain in my wrist and hand. The exercises are kind of a bootcamp-style routine, so I was regularly doing push-ups and other weight-bearing exercises on my hands.
I kind of worked through the pain for a bit, thinking I had just tweaked my wrist and that it would heal in a few days. It wasn’t getting better, so I figured I should rest my hand and wrist for a while and start back up in a week or two. Right around that same time, we were running around the house with the toddler, just being silly, and I happened to accidentally run right into my husband with my right hand extended, jamming my wrist. Oh, it was excruciating! The whole next day every single little movement hurt. Typing, writing, eating, driving, dressing, lifting…I couldn’t do any of it. Even without use, the whole area would throb with pain. Being right-handed, this seriously got in the way of things.
I started icing my wrist, hoping that this weird injury would go away. Luckily the pain subsided a bit, but daily activities continued to hurt. I couldn’t put ANY weight on that hand unless I made a fist in order to keep my wrist straight. Little things like chopping vegetables or doing my hair were unpleasant to say the least. (So I just don’t do them! Ha!)
I came to the conclusion that after 10 years of working on the computer I had finally developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Not the end of the world, obviously; there are much worse ailments. But a nuisance. I promised my family that if things didn’t start to feel better by April that I would see a doctor. Naturally, my over-active imagination began to spiral out of control in the following weeks. What if the pain becomes so bad I can’t use my right hand ever again? What if it is arthritis that is slowly spreading through my body, leaving me in a wheelchair by the time I’m 50? What if this is a beginning sign of MS? What if it’s bone cancer? What if…what if….?
Sure enough, over 6 weeks went by and no improvement was made, so I visited a hand and arm specialist. Within a minute of describing my pain and feeling the joints he knew what it was.
“Does this hurt right here?”, he asked, pressing his thumb firmly on the top and center part of my wrist and sending shooting pains through my hand and arm and causing me to momentarily go a bit cross-eyed.
The problem, he said, is not Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but a ganglion cyst growing within the joint and putting pressure on the nerves. Nothing dangerous and potentially fixable, but a bit inconvenient.
(FYI- don’t do a Google Image search for ganglion cysts if you are squeamish. Hoo boy! You’re welcome.)
Ganglion cysts are not necessarily uncommon and can present in a variety of ways. You can’t really see mine as mine apparently is smaller and located deeper within the wrist, but those also tend to be more painful.
The doctor injected it with a cortisone shot (ouch!) and told me to give it a month. If it isn’t better in a few weeks, come back for another one. If those don’t work, they can try to aspirate it (drain the fluid) or remove it surgically. However, there is always the risk of the cyst returning later on.
One other method of removal that I read about online is to whack it as hard as you can with a heavy book, rupturing the lining and therefore getting rid of it (until it grows back…). Um, hello? NO.
I also learned that I have what are called “lax joints”, and that my wrists and fingers are hypermobile, or in other words, they have an extended range of motion. The doctor was quite rushed (I waited for an hour in the waiting room) so I wasn’t able to ask him much about it, but he mentioned that things like push-ups are bad for a person with joints like I have. I did some research online and learned about a syndrome called Joint Hypermobility Syndrome that has a crazy array of symptoms, some of them can be very serious (spontaneous rupture of the heart or lungs, anyone?), but it seems like there could be varying degrees of the severity of the symptoms. Anyhoo, if I do indeed have this syndrome, it would explain a LOT over the years. Ever since I was a kid I have seen doctors for ankle, knee, hip, back, fatigue and headache problems and never received any answers. I’ve always felt like I had an “old” body and just dealt with the pain, and often ascribed it to the fact that I danced competitively and was always very active. I’ll have to dive into it all a little more and maybe consult with the doctor again, but it’s almost like a weight off my shoulders to know why. There isn’t much that can be done about it all, but it’s kind of nice to know it isn’t all in my head or that I’m just a big baby, you know?
So. There you have it, whether you wanted to know or not. I’m grateful to have a generally healthy and functional body, and even though this wrist thing isn’t exactly a party, I still consider myself lucky. In the meantime, I have this super-cool accessory to wear:
I have to wear it at night to keep my wrist from being slept-on funny, which kills, and during the day as much as needed to manage pain. You don’t have to tell me, I know it’s way hot. Try not to be jealous
P.S. This is a wretched picture of me that I took a few days ago while chatting with a friend to show her what was up. I feel the need to explain that I had to be at work extra-early that day, hence the hat and bloodshot eyes. But really, let’s face it, it’s not like I really get much fancier for work on days I have more rest.
P.P.S. After sending this pic my friend said of my office ,”It looks like you’re in a closet.” Yes, yes it does.
Ok, fine, that is a lame excuse for a post. But yes, I do have writer’s block, in a way. In reality, I write stuff all the time… in my head. But lately it never seems to flow out through my fingertips and onto my keyboard. Why is that? I feel like I do a lot of thinking. I have plenty of time to kill during my long commutes to and from work, where in the past I’ve had plenty of ideas and theories flutter through my brain.
However, these days I feel a little brain dead, for lack of a better phrase. My head feels cloudy and blank much of the time. Part of me wonders if it is because of my job, which is astonishingly boring and completely mind-numbing quite frequently. I sit in a windowless office all day, with very little contact with other humans. I talk with people over the phone for a small portion of each day, but otherwise it is all through email and chat. My coworkers and I have very little interaction. Not much is required for business, and any sort of social interaction with them is extremely rare. For one, they are in love with their computers and video games and I am not. Secondly, I am female and they are not, which makes me foreign and perhaps scary?
The way our office is set up is not really conducive to casual walk-by conversations. If I were to want to interact with my coworkers I would have to walk down the hall and hang a left to their little den that I never have reason to visit, only to plop myself down and say “hey guys, what’s up?”. That would end up being very uncomfortable because one would likely stare at me awkwardly but not say anything, the other would make some weird joke and then laugh loudly and nervously, the third one would say “YO!” loudly and then stick his earbuds back in, and the fourth would ask me if I was in love with my Mac yet and then we’d be out of conversation topics. Sadly, that is an exact scenario of any socialization attempts I would make.
So, instead I sit in my windowless office which I am fairly certain is slowly but surely killing my brain cells. I honestly feel like I am in a mental fog during most the day, and then finally when I find myself at home it is like my world comes alive again. I’ve tried everything to make the long office days more bearable- I listen to music, I do squats, calf raises, lunges, jumping jacks, run in place… all sorts of crazy things to get the blood flowing back to my brain. (I’m always terrified that a coworker will walk past as I’m doing one of these activities, further solidifying in their mind how odd the new girl is). I used to do push-ups before my hand/wrist went all screwy, but that is a post for a different day. If it weren’t for my dear friend on chat, also working her life away at another company, I’d go insane. Despite my best efforts though, I feel like this brain deadness is beginning to seep into other areas of my life and that I’m perpetually walking around simply trying to focus on what is before me at the moment and remember the important things required for functioning. It is strange and frustrating and I’m not quite sure what to make of it yet, but that is my long explanation for the very limited posting these days.
Also, I’ve found myself having a bit of an identity crisis, maybe? Most of the women in my part of the world are full-time stay-at-home moms or only work part-time. Obviously, at this point in my life I am not one of them, although I hope to be in the not-too-distant future. However, I have a hard time figuring out where I fit in as a working mother. I am not working in a “career” that I love and find challenging but rewarding. Again, maybe someday I’ll find a more rewarding way to bring in some money. As a result, I kind of feel like a…misfit. I’m not like the ladies in my neighborhood, I’m not like the men at my workplace, so who am I and where do I fit within the social fabric of my life?
I’ve found that in my social confusion over the last several weeks that the best thing for me to do is simply walk away from it, to just focus on me and my family and be happy with that. I think one of the dangers of this wonder that is the Internet is that we are entirely too connected. It is far too easy to surf blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and who knows what else and see what everyone else is doing and then wonder who and what you identify with and if perhaps there is something wrong with you? There are the blogs from the cute little SAHM’s who modge-podge everything and make sure there are scalloped edges and tastefully shabby ribbons and damask fabric on everything they touch, and that certainly isn’t me. Then there are the working mothers who agonize over the work-life balance like I do, but they are lawyers and advertising execs and intensive care nurses and such. Not lowly sales reps sitting in cave-like offices, waiting for the day they can feel alive and worthwhile again.
Because the Internet is my lifeline during my long, coma-like hours in the office I spend a fair amount of time “connected” to others to a degree. I finally realized that while I wasn’t intentionally comparing myself to all these other people, I was being bogged down by worrying about if I was “right” or “wrong” compared to these women I had never even met! I really feel that in our society today we’re all so hyper-connected to others through social media that we begin to lose touch with the most important person: ourselves.
I don’t have a smartphone, and honestly I never really want to. I see no reason to have that much information and connectivity with me at all times. I have found it refreshing to step away from the computer and just sit and think. To reflect on my life, my family, my strengths and weaknesses, my relationships, what I’ve done well, what I can do better. Maybe our great historical figures were so noble because they had so much darn time to reflect on things, you know? They weren’t constantly trying to come up with witty 140-character phrases or Facebook stalk their ex. Instead, they reflected on who they were and mastered their inherit weak points in their character.
So I guess what I’m saying, in a very round-about sort of way, is that over the last few weeks I’ve found it helpful to untangle myself from the Internet a bit, including this blog. I need to be a better and stronger person who is comfortable in my own skin. I’m not giving this blog up; I like writing. Just sometimes good writing ebbs and flows and right now it is just not flowing as I would like it to. And in this space I don’t want to blog about nonsense that is neither funny, nor helpful, nor inspiring, nor profound, nor creative, nor meaningful or anything else of value.
Well, would you look at that- my writers block has turned into almost 1,300 words! I guess the advice to just sit down and start writing does work. Either way, I do plan to continue to write on this little bloggy as I do get great enjoyment from it and based on the word-vomit above it seems to help me organize some of the thoughts rattling around in my brain. See you again sooner rather than later…hopefully…
…just went MIA this last week. Got home from the business trip after a long, loooooonnng day and completely crashed the next day. However, I had to quickly get my act together because my poor little girl, who hadn’t managed to fully recover from her previous illness came down with an even worse virus. By Monday, she was so miserable and coughing so hard that the blood vessels around her eyes had burst and she had little purple splotches covering her eyelids and around her eye sockets. By that night, she was coughing until she would throw up and just the saddest thing you’ve ever seen. I’ll spare you the rest of the heartbreaking details, but before the night was over we were all in tears.
I don’t know how some parents do it. We were crying over seeing our daughter sick with a bad chest cold. How do parents handle having a child with a chronic or serious illness? When I was 10 years old I became seriously ill with a mysterious bacterial infection in my intestines and was hospitalized for a week after being terribly sick for almost a month. My parents cried pretty much that whole week. Now I understand why. There may be nothing more mentally, physically, and emotionally draining as seeing your child suffer and feeling so helpless. I admire so much the families who deal with that kind of stress on a regular basis.
Happily, the little one is on the mend. That awful Monday night she received a priesthood blessing from her father and slept well. The next morning she was still sick, but vastly improved and is almost back to her regular self.
So in short, this week we’ve been in survival mode- trying to find a way to tend to our sick child while still magically fulfilling our obligations at school and work. It’s in these times that I long for the simpler days that will hopefully come in the not-too-distant future. Until then I’ll just appreciate the fact that we are all healthy and whole, and while life is crazy at times, it is still a good one
The participants: Overworked and under-appreciated sales consultants and their prospective clients
The situation: Sales consultants are placed in scenarios where mere survival becomes difficult, for example-
- Only 4 hours of sleep after a long, long day of traveling
- Stand in high-heels in a 10 x 10 foot booth for nine hours. Wait, make that nine and a half hours.
- No lunch due to time constraints and lack of available places to obtain food. Force participants to forage for food in their purses and steal a stray bag of pretzels left on a table in the hall.
- Endure nine and a half hours in a booth with a coworker that while very nice, does not share the same interests or sense of humor, a fair portion of that time being complete dead time that required that some sort of awkward conversation be made.
- Be forced to repeatedly shout the answers to questions that they are only vaguely sure of how to answer to clients that probably won’t call back anyway.
- Hold the conference in sunny Florida on a beautiful, sunny, 85 degree but force participants to stand in aforementioned 10 x 10 booth in heels for over nine hours in a windowless, foodless ballroom instead of lounging at the pool.
-Ideally, combine all above listed scenarios into one day to really provide the ultimate experience.
The objective: See if participants can keep their sanity intact, so they can come back and do it all over again the next day.
So here I am, once again, in a lonely little hotel room. But this time it is in Florida instead of California, so hooray for variety, or something… Today’s flight was a tough one today, partly due to the sheer length, the rushing to change planes, the multiple crying children (and I am very tolerant of crying children, seeing as I have a small child that is prone to waterworks), and the fact that I didn’t have time to eat almost the entire day. But I’m making up for it by gorging on crab & bacon stuffed shrimp for dinner and a lovely key lime pie:
All in all though, there were many interesting tidbits throughout the day that I observed and tried to take mental notes of to tell my husband on the phone later tonight. For example:
- Realizing the awkwardness of sitting next to a nice older guy on the plane who really wants to chat about his daughter and grandkids and whatnot, but is hard of hearing…Do I try to end the difficult conversation for the sake of simplicity? Or do I continue to holler my responses two or three times?
- How awesome it was to be able to switch to the emergency exit aisle and get all that fantastic leg room
- However, the leg room did not exactly cancel out the fact that I forgot my neck pillow thingy or the 3 year old behind me constantly kicking my seat, or the poor infant that could not fall asleep and was so sad and grumpy because of it. So, roomy? Yes. Relaxing? No.
- The fact that I was able to connect to Wi-Fi while the plane was in the air blew my mind. I mean, internet access miles above the ground while moving hundreds of miles an hour? AMAZING. Does that make me sound like I’m 75?
- The night before I left I was very anxious and I suddenly had this vivid image of the fact that I would be in this big metal cylinder with wings that is somehow hurtling through the sky and depositing me on the other side of the country, and looking at it in such literal terms FREAKED me out. I mean, really, flying? It’s insanity. Now do I sound like I was born in 1810 or something? Needless to say, I was very relieved when I arrived at my destination safe and sound.
- It is gloriously warm here in Florida. I stepped off the plane and was embraced by the warmth and humidity and was practically smacked between the eyes with the realization of how badly I needed a VACATION, not a stinking business trip. The only other times I’ve been to Florida before have been with my husband, and feeling the lovely vaction-y climate without my man reminded me of how things just aren’t as fun when he isn’t around. (And when I’m working, naturally. Blah.)
- Speaking of relieved…this hotel is actually a normal hotel in a normal location near restaurants and convenience stores where actual normal people are, unlike my previous business trips in the ghetto. It’s nice to see valid business without bars on the windows and gaggles of homeless people around them, you know?
- Leaving Utah is always a culture shock. Seriously, as much as I love my beautiful home state, it’s kind of a weird place due to the crazy lack of diversity. It was kind of neat to see a kosher restaurant full of faithful Jewish men in yarmulkes, right next door to a bar. I don’t know what would be more unlikely in good old Utah County- a kosher restaurant or a bar in a strip mall?
- The guy checking me into the hotel told me I had beautiful hair and then instantly blushed and said he could get fired for saying that, but I told him I wouldn’t tell. Kind of made my whole night considering I felt like something that had been dragged across the country and was now a heap of smudged make-up and puffy eyes.
- One of the restaurants in the little strip mall by the hotel is a fast food Chinese joint called “Run & Run”, which pretty much seems like the most perfect name ever considering fast food Chinese will probably give you the runs. Heh.
Oy, I have a very VERY long day tomorrow and I am up past my bedtime. I should probably call it a night. Business trips are the best time for nonsensical ramblings on the internet, don’t you think? If you’re lucky I will return for more tomorrow. I know you can’t wait.
Somebody make me stop using the PhotoBooth application on my computer. I need an intervention. No one wants to see badly lit photos of a a lonely, puffy-faced traveler, I know this. I just can’t help myself.
We’ll start with awful first, since I’ve always been the type who likes the bad news first rather than the good news.
AWFUL:
The car is in the shop AGAIN. Third. Accident. In. Five. Months. AHHHHHHH! Luckily though, once again this one was not our fault and not too bad, so that is kind of awesome. The husband was at school taking a test and walks out to find that some dude forgot to put his giant 1970′s era car in park and it rolled out of its spot and slammed into our car, mangling the license plate and scratching/denting the new paint job that barely had time to dry from the previous accident. Good heavens…
The toddler is sick, which breaks my heart. Hearing her cough so hard in the night makes me so sad. I’m so glad she is normally a healthy kid, I don’t think I’d be strong enough to handle it otherwise.
I have a wicked case of wanderlust, but no money to go on vacation anywhere. Boooo!! Mama needs a vacation, NOW.
And most awful of all (far more than any of my pathetic little complaints)- the situation in Japan. Need I say more? So heartbreaking and terrifying in so many ways.
AWESOME:
Actually being able to spend time outdoors! It’s amazing! The trees! The birds! The sunshine!!! I just know in a couple of weeks I will have to put the weather in the AWFUL category because of a spring snowstorm that is bound to blow in, but I will enjoy our family walks, my occasional jogs, and time on the playground for the little one while it lasts.
We got our tax return back, which is fabulous. Now only if we could use that money for vacation instead of debt…but money is money and I love having a little more peace of mind!
Spring Break is upon us and I am taking work off tomorrow.
The husband and I went on an actual date recently, as in a dinner AND a movie, both away from home! Dinner at a restaurant and a movie in the theater. The theater! We’re so posh now!
They say bad things happen in three’s, so since we’ve had our third car accident that means we’re done, right? Because that would be awesome.
The other day I got that dreaded letter in the mail.
I’ve been summoned for jury duty.
I realize a fair trial where you are judged by your peers is one of the privileges of living in a free and democratic society, and that it is my civic duty to participate, but who has time for this? In fact, in the letter they told me jury selection itself can take several hours and it is “recommended I bring a book to read to help pass the time.” (Actually, come to think of it, that doesn’t sound so bad…)
I’m thinking of pulling a Liz Lemon to get out of this one. They’d let me off the hook for sure, don’t you think?
