Sometimes I need to be alone and don’t know it.

Sometimes I need time alone and don’t even know it. I have over-booked myself lately and currently suffer from scheduling conflicts. I have way too many things on my calendar and literally not enough of me to go around. I have a full life for which I am grateful. I have many people who depend on me, and some of them even love me. Sometimes I forget that I’m not Wonder Woman, and a human needs a break now and then.

The next two months are going to be extremely busy for me. I have two writing conferences that are both a good two hours away from home, a four day retreat, a business trip that’s four hours from home, four family birthdays, a major family project for which I probably don’t possess enough physical strength or fortitude, two family functions, a banquet that is work-related for my husband, a quick getaway with my husband for our 18th wedding anniversary, an unpleasant doctor visit to discuss changing my medication, and two meetings with my critique group. I’m also judging a writing contest, but that’s classified.

I want to do most of these things. I am required to do the rest. Reducing my Ozarks Maven posts to three per week has reduced my stress somewhat, but my posts come from the heart and are fairly easy to write. My grandma used to tell me, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” I’m certainly not idle now.

I’m still working on my romance novel, which I hope to have completed by the end of the year. I had planned to have my collection of paranormal short stories published on Amazon by the end of this month, but that’s looking doubtful. I do have one story that’s being published in November by Grey Wolfe Publishing. The journal is called Legends: Passion Pages. They are publishing my romantic short story, “Once Upon a Winter Storm.” I will post more about that later.

So, as you can see, I’ve been super busy and will remain so for at least the next two months. Don’t even get me started on the holidays. I can’t think about them right now. My husband is just going to have to take care of the lion’s share of holiday work this year. It should be interesting.

Yesterday I had a ton of things to do by noon. The third thing on my to do list was to wash my filthy car. The city milled and paved the street in front of my office last week. The wind was blowing toward my building, so my car and office building obtained a thick coating of asphalt dust. My black car had such a think layer of dust that it looked brown.

I am just going to tell you right now that I’m terrible at using the manual wash bays. I usually end up with more soap on me that on the car. Therefore, I normally use the automatic bay. It’s more expensive, but I stay dry and happy.

I purchased the $8.00 car wash with under spray because my car was so filthy. The wash cycle is fairly lengthy, so I had some time to myself. I was scrolling through Facebook and listening to the radio when I noticed something worthy of note. The multicolored foam soap clung to all of my windows. The late morning sun shown through the foam giving my car interior a blue tint. I’d never realized how beautiful that foam was before.

I turned off the radio and put my phone down. I breathed deeply and enjoyed the scent of the soap permeating my car. The world seemed to be reduced to my little blue cocoon. My racing mind stilled. For a few precious moments I didn’t worry about the money I’m spending to take all of those trips. I didn’t fret about the bills, laundry, dishes, kids, or huge pile of work waiting for me at home. I didn’t stress about hotel reservations or making sure I have appropriate clothing for all of the events. I just let my brain rest and stared at the foam.

I didn’t know that I needed to be alone until I found myself enveloped in soft blue light. I found peace in those few minutes tucked safely away in a local car wash bay. After the foam was rinsed away and the exit light turned green, I drove away with a refreshed spirit and eased mind.

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