Finding the time

I have been looking forward to today all week. A Friday at home and time to sew. I have one wrap blouse from my recovered Sew and Sew Pattern done and another almost done. By the time a photographer is home from work tonight I should have something to show for my day.

I don't get as much clear sewing time as I would like to. This week the reasons have been:

• Back to school. I had my first classes yesterday, all first years, most with new back-to-school clothes and makeup, many from away and my theme was you are just going to be fine. I love my students and as I teach in a professional program I always feel pressured to give them as much useful information as I can. They are all there, the perky girls who were big deals in high school adjusting to a world where no one knows who they are, and the quiet ones who will find out this year that they are finally going to come into their own, and the boys who are used to sitting at the back of the room and riding on their basic intelligence and horsing around who suddenly realize the world is a competitive place and, begrudgingly start to ask interested questions.
• An emergency call from another institution in town. The pre-admission writing course instructor has had to take the term off and could I fill in for them? Sure I said how hard can it be? Then another call back to say the "coach" wanted to see the curriculum. Seems some of the local hockey players have been sent back for upgrading. Now this should be interesting.
• The wedding plans. My daughter, who is now getting married three weeks away, has been having a ceremony reading crisis. Nice biblical verse but the groom wanted Kipling's "It " poem the one that ends with then you'll be a man my son, or something to that effect. It's his favourite. So she decided to find other suitable readings to add on, which involved her saying things like "Oh Mom, everyone has that at their wedding, you're stressing me out." Fortunately she finally found something on her own and I am off the hook.
• The US political convention. Up late every night. I used to work in politics and am far too involved in this one election for someone who isn't even American. I can't help seeing the craft and strategy and spin of it all. I left it politics where I was involved in communications because in the end I was exhausted by the recreational cruelty of the game, and by being surprised, even when I shouldn't, by the fact that I always underestimated the role that ego and ambition play in that world. I do know though that politics produces the laws and policies that affect every aspect of ordinary lives, so it does matter, I just wish it wasn't such an inefficient process. What I do know is that whoever makes the rules win, and so I am watching this all hoping that I will be proved wrong, that all the rules I know will be broken, that democracy can still produce what it needs to. So I am tired. Just like my husband who happily leaves me in front of the TV to go to bed, but who I wake up to give a complete strategic analysis every night. 
• Surfers. The waves are good and there is a big competition here this weekend on the East Coast. My youngest is a surfer and he has been bringing home guys who need a place to stay. Nice guys who say things like "Showers, awesome" very polite and pleasant but interesting to see who comes out of the bedrooms in the morning. And lots of towels to wash. But these are someone's kids aren't they?
• Obligations in the sewing world. I teach the odd class and do a little newsletter type writing. Seems lately that doing this is taking away from my actual sewing time and I need that to keep me centered. Like many women it is often other people and their needs first. That is something I am going to have to work through.

In the meantime, today, I sew. A nice, calm, creative day.