The holidays are supposed to be a time of joy and peace. They are supposed to be filled with family and fun. But my holiday is really shaping up to be a series of unfortunate events.

Without going into any detail, this is shaping up to be my most expensive holiday ever… and I have bought zero gifts at this point. It seems like I am zipping from one emergency to another, and I cannot catch my breath, let alone a good night’s sleep.

I remember playing outdoors as a child, mainly because my parents made me. (I would have preferred staying inside to read.) we played all the classics: Simon Says, Mother May I, Hide and Seek, and multiple variations of tag.

There was a neighborhood kid, a good friend, who whenever he got close to being tagged, he would pause the game by simply yelling “Time Out!” And he would stop where he was and try to catch his breath. Depending on what variation of the game we were playing, sometimes the entire game would stop. Other times, the rest of us would just keep right on playing. Whenever he was ready, he’d jump back in the game.

This particular friend may have abused the Time Out privilege. Whenever somebody was on his tail, or if he thought things were not going his way, he’d call for a time out. Neighborhood games are not regulated, so there was no limit to the amount of timeouts you could call. There was no time limit either. You could literally call Time out, go home, eat dinner, clear the table, wash the dishes, and return to the game, simply by approximating your previous position on the field and calling time in.

I said all of that to say this. I am in desperate need of a time out. I need to stop the clock, so I can both strategize my next move and catch my breath.

There are no timeouts in the game of life. So I need to actually figure out how to be in three places at the same time today. I also need NBA money for MBA-level work, a coach to call all the plays, and a referee to watch the clock. I have none of those things… But at least I have my team, and for that I am grateful!

Mama Radford

P.S. If you are reading this, please pray and send me your good vibes. I really do need to be 3 places at once today.