Let's just shut our eyes for a moment and think of a time when we took on a project, totally unnecessarily, and almost instantly regretted it. Got yours? I don't have to think long about it for myself. It was last week.
Here's the little bit of necessary background. My in-laws are shoppers, and very generous. When they discovered that I was pregnant, we were instantly flooded with gifts. Amongst them was a size 3T Thanksgiving shirt with a turkey quilted on the front. It was known in the family as The Turkey Shirt.
Alice has worn The Turkey Shirt every single Thanksgiving of her life. At first, it was comically too big. Last year it fit just right. This year she had finally outgrown The Turkey Shirt. We were in a state of crisis. What would she wear this Thanksgiving? Because just wearing a regular shirt (you know, like everyone else has done for their entire lives...) was clearly out of the question.
Thus began the search for a new The Turkey Shirt. Jeff and I spent the weekend before Thanksgiving looking from store to store in search of a shirt that was at least marginally Thanksgiving-related. We found nothing.
Nothing!
As an aside, can we just talk about commercialism for a moment? I found loads and loads of Christmas related ...everything. I found clearance racks stuffed to the gills with leftover Halloween items. And one discount store had one little shelf with a few sad pumpkins and a doorstop shaped like a fox. Is Thanksgiving now nothing except turkeys, Stove-top stuffing, cranberry sauce and those French's fried onion things? [insert frustrated noises]
It occurred to me that we were running out of time. What would we do? And that's when I got the idea. The idea that was not a good idea.
I could just sew her a shirt for Thanksgiving!
It should have been a totally reasonable project. I was sewing a single shirt, not outfitting a line of chorus girls. And sewing a single shirt for a small human, not a large elephant. And also, sewing shouldn't take that long, right? Well, I didn't find any cloth until Tuesday. Then I could only find smaller pieces (fat quarters, if you are familiar with the term). Here's where I should also mention that I have a long-standing issue with all sewing machines. My issue is that I can't get them to work. Seriously, I've broken three. Therefore, I sew everything by hand.
And in a moment of madness, I decided to make a dress, not a shirt. And wouldn't this be a fun time to figure out how to line a dress, too?
The answer is: no. It would not. The Turkey Shirt had become The Turkey Shirt of Doom.
Between noon on Tuesday and 1 am on the Thanksgiving, I spent roughly 16 hours sewing a little dress that Alice wore two times, and probably will never wear again. The morning of, Alice didn't actually want to wear her Turkey Dress. Fortunately she acquiesced to my demands in the end ("Alice Rose you will wear this dress, so help me!!!").
Aside from an unnaturally long hand of Uno, I remember little from Thanksgiving. I think it went well. Alice looked adorable. I probably looked like an extra in a zombie movie.
It was very easy to think of something to be thankful for this year. The Turkey Shirt was done! Thank God!
Have you ever taken on a project that seemed very reasonable at the time, but later became definitely not reasonable? I'm guilty of doing that over and over. Earlier this year I decided that self-publishing a book every three months was a totally reasonable thing to do. Dear reader, let me tell you, it is not! That said, I am so desperately close to finishing my second book! I hope that it will be ready in time for Christmas. But if life continues to intervene in the form of school projects and family get-togethers, parties to plan and holiday shopping to complete, it might actually be January before it all gets done. I'm at peace with that. I hope you are too.
It was easy to think of a lot of things to be thankful for this year. I published my first book. I actually sold some copies! I'm healthy and so is my family. My father, who was very sick earlier this year, is still alive and improving all of the time. I still have a roof over my head and food in the cabinets. My daughter is strong and healthy and growing like she should. My husband loves me and supports me through the difficult times (and the ridiculous Turkey Shirt times). I have a photogenic dog and enough time to pursue a career in writing.
And dear reader, I'm thankful for you. Every person who has shared one of my posts, read my blog, bought a book or told someone else about it. I'm so thankful for you. Without realizing it, you are making my life-long dreams come true.
I hope each and every one of you had a great Thanksgiving. I hope that Christmas is even better. And if a daunting, somewhat ridiculous project is set before you, I hope you can stick that out and enjoy it, too!