I’ve had better days. I was up til 2 am and then awake with a small, bright little person again at about 5:30am. I have a cold; a floor that’s as well used as an outback landing strip; a broken vacuum cleaner; dinner and games for 11 tonight; a barking dog and a bad case of the self pitys!

I feel miserable enough that I’ve made Mr 17 drive to shops with me so I don’t have to get out to buy the crackers I’m taking to a mothers’ group that’s on now. I’ve stooped pretty low. Why not stay home? Well, why not indeed? Sleep could be had. There’s always a teen to request babysitting and housecleaning services from. But I can’t. I literally can’t.

You see, I’ve been afflicted or blessed (depending on the day) with an extroverted personality. I need people. I get energy from people. So to go out and be with people is more energizing to me than sleep. You either get it or you don’t with extroverts and introverts. It’s just one of those things. As well as being blessed with a need for people, I’ve been blessed with a husband and 4 lovely children (and a few ring-ins). All of my delightful housemates are INTROVERTS. Take a moment to let that sink in. I’m surrounded by people who need to recoup their energy by NOT being with people. More ironic than Alanis Morrisette, that one.

So, I got up and went out and had an awesome time with my Misfit Mothers’ Group. We’ve deliberately planned it this way. Probably shouldn’t have a title; that’s how out there we are! They’re extroverts too, so it suits us all. Misfit Mothers are the sorts of people who don’t always talk about their child or want to hear about yours. MMs are likely to laugh when their child (or yours) runs into a glass sliding door. Said sliding door was my offering to MMs group. However, mine is unlikely to be clean, so will perhaps provide less opportunity for accidental walk ins. Cleanliness of house is not important to hosting MMs and I’m thinking of implementing a No ‘sorry for the mess’ policy. I’m not certain that we have room for policies actually, but we do have the underlying idea that we are visiting to see one another and not to determine ‘what does your loo say about you?’

So back to my day. Brilliant time with my fellow MMs, talking about all manner of things, then back home in time to use energy gained from those interactions to clear floor sufficiently to avoid Lego brick fire walking;

hide dirty dishes in the dishwasher that came with our home and make play dough out of what should have been delightful mushroom risotto. We had chicken pieces and salad instead – salad purchased by a guest after slightly frantic phone call.

After dinner we played numerous board games. If that’s your thing, I suggest you check out Concept, Pix and Anomia. Loads of fun had by all. And my favourite thing? I was surrounded by people, enjoying conversation, and even my introverts enjoyed the time. And if they did scatter like proverbial cockroaches when the light is switched on when the games finished? Ah well, that’s the way of it sometimes.

Veritas,

Eski 👍