I’ve got to admit that around here we feel a bit like Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles. Check out the YouTube video for her wonderfully hilarious song, “I’m Tired”.

Admittedly, I did not spend my weekend as a dance hall girl, so my tired is not from the same activities as ol’ Madeline’s were. But “I’m tired…tired of playing the game…ain’t it a crying shame? I’m so tired!” On Saturday our plans for the churchwide outreach event were in major motion, starting at 7 am, when we tanked up on coffee and started packing popcicles in coolers, hooking a float to a truck and loading Dalmatians into the back of the pickup for the parade. The party cranked up around 9:30 am and wound down after a showing of Finding Nemo ended at 4:00. And everyone went home tired…and happy, having had several people from the community join us for the fun.

LuLu did a remarkable job of handling the day; even better than last year. Her best friend was not able to be in the parade. But that didn’t keep her from going just the same. Then she got her face painted and played most of the day, with minimal check ins with us. Then her dear friend did spend the night, and the most frustrating thing for them was that Super Dad and I were too tired to engage in any activities…but that’s ok; they found plenty to do.

Yesterday, however, was a totally different story. The let down from Saturday was in full force. And LuLu melted as we were leaving church. Then the rest of us melted. It was uncharacteristic for all of us to melt at the same time. But that’s exactly what happened. LuLu, Super Dad, Kay and me! We were all So Tired…that there was enough yelling and crying to last for the rest of the year.

The bright side of this was that LuLu didn’t “stay” there. Usually when that much emotion is emoted from anyone else, LuLu matches it and raises it by several magnitudes. Instead, after we all ate (hunger had a role in the meltdown, I’m sure), each family member crawled off to a separate part of the house to rest and calm down. By evening we were nearly functional, albeit still wounded and slightly grumpy.

Each day dawns anew around here. None of us can stay too agitated when the weather here has turned into lovely temperate fall days with a slight cooling breeze. And even though we’re still very tired of the same ol’ patterns of melting down, one thing is crystal clear, LuLu is tired of it too. And she’s actively trying to change.

It is hard not to be motivated to match her efforts.

Photo credit: Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles, on YouTube