Type A…yup, thats me. I just proved it to myself. Based on a yahoo personality quiz, I confirmed what I think I already knew. Apparently type A's are impatient, aggressive and competitive. Type A-ness runs in my family. In fact, my entire family is so type A , that family gatherings are like putting a bunch of pit bulls into a room with only one chew toy. As I have aged, I have learned to cope better with this diagnosis of sorts. I know when I am acting like a caged animal, I can even feel it in my blood. While A's are always trying to achieve success even during well deserved rest time, we contemplate what comes next. Nothing hit the nail on capital "A" head more than turing 40 this week. 40 became a wonderful opportunity to take note of the achievements and failures that comes with a landmark birthday. But after all of the contemplating I realized it's just to damn exhausting; so I decided to give Type B a try. To do this, I drank a lot of wine. We gathered around an outdoor fire pit with some good friends on Saturday night. The kids ran around with reckless abandon as I parked it. Fire would help build the kids into a frenzy but feeling it's warmth would seduce me into submission. My friend kept pouring the wine and soon enough it became clear that I wouldn't be getting up for a while. 8 became 9 and eventually midnight closed in. After the first glass, I would no longer check my watch like a good "A" girl normally would. As time ebbed by we would listen to Styxx and we would be transported to what felt like a summer night or our youth. We would shoot balled up papers into the fire making mini-fireworks as we vetted out our stresses. Both young and old could meet eye to eye here in the dark and enjoy each others company. Who knew that the lyrics swaying overhead, "the best of times" would truly become just that. When I woke the next morning, I would fall back into my A-ness, but not without the a sense that there is another way to look at things. Perhaps this time without the vino. I would put it to test by canceling all of the next days appointments to hop, skip and jump my way around my self inflicted responsibilities. Do I really need to move mountains today as i went through the to-do list in my head? ...Do I really need to go to Kate's Open House? I could send my husband. Surely his presence in the school would make my friends think I had dropped dead. By Tuesday I'll pretty sure I'll return to the hand I've been dealt, but I will have enjoyed my little mini vacation from myself. I encourage all you type A's out there to give it a try despite your hesitancy to do so. A mental vacation could be just as worthy as a more expensive one that requires airline tickets. The hardest part is just telling yourself it's ok to relax. I am pretty sure that if you do, the sun will still rise tomorrow, earth will stay in orbit, and the massive pile of laundry sitting on the bedroom floor will remain.
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