It takes a village, seriously.

Today was bearable.  I am assuming that was due to the fact that I spent the entire afternoon locked down in the office.  Today was a day for procrastinated homework.  British Literature is not my forte by any stretch of the imagination.  Reading it - OK.  Dissecting it.......hmm, not so much.  In fact, I enjoyed explicating the Sonnets of Shakespeare much less than examining the inner workings of a cat in anatomy.  Analyzing poetry takes all the joy out of it.  Step by painful step a work of art is broken down into it's most fundamental pieces.  Where is the feeling or essence of the whole? For me, it gets lost in the furious scramble to identify one more independent participial.  I actually had to look that up.  And to be honest - I called my 15 year old son into the room to assist me.  He scratched his head a bit as well.  I secretly smiled when he had a hard time - he's gifted and in a high school for brainiacs

So, here I sit.  I've clandestinely arranged for a super-brilliant and loyal friend to write my paper on Chaucer this week.  I've decided that this allowing and inviting is no more than implementing the "it takes a village" theme.  I practiced this same philosophy earlier in the day as well.  My DH and I were attempting to upgrade a wall switch and adding a dimmer. Tensions ran high as the job the woman at HD assured us would be so easy, was not.  I phoned a friend and neighbor whose husband is an electrician and asked if he  could come by for a few minutes. I figured that just by increasing his physical proximity to the wall plate, we'd boost our chances for success.  Now, in the past I would have felt that this transaction should be balanced by money. That I would owe him this for his willingness to help.  Not today.  I decided that he had a skill set that I needed and what I was asking was not overstepping the bounds of neighborly aide.  I will say though, that as he was leaving I assured him that if he ever needed any nursey stuff - to call me.  I've got skills that are worth something as well.  I wouldn't have (and haven't had) an issue with "nursey" questions from friends int he past and I shan't in the future either (crap this Shakespeare stuff is getting to me).  I give it freely and expect nothing in return.  I made the choice today to allow others to do the same for me.  That's different.  Somewhere, in me, I feel different now.  I am taking note of the little things that make incremental changes in how I feel toward myself.