service with a smile

Day 02- The meaning behind your Blog name

Well, considering I had the name decided long before I had the guts to take the plunge into blogdom I guess the name must have a lot of meaning. Spinning My Plates is, to be short, sweet and to the point...a Polaroid snapshot of my life. It's all those pieces and parts that make up this wonderous, amusing and yes, I'll say it...sometimes a pain in the rump life. But it's my life. Mine, mine, all mine. I am not unhappy doing what I do although the look of concentration on my face may be deceiving. I am sometimes so caught up in the mechanics of keeping it all together that I miss the beauty of the fact that all the elements of my life are whirling together in a collective ballet of insertia.

I was, for a long time in my life, alone. I was 28 when I married my husband. Until then my life consisted of pretty much just taking care of myself. Oh, sure I was still a daughter and sister but I had always been those things. It just came naturally to fulfill those roles. But being on my own made me somewhat...what's the word? Oh, yeah. Selfish. I learned a lot about myself before I got married or had kids. For this I am glad. I learned that I like to be alone sometimes...that hanging out in a clean living room with a candle burning, book in one hand and good coffee in the other holds much more pleasure for me than going to a bar or other public place. This is the ME plate. Think of this as a divided dish; comprised of 4 sections that are rarely equal: mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.

Mr. Bug and I waited a long while to get married. It took us four years to find out how to live for another person, to put our own desires on hold sometimes for the sake of being a couple. Then we got married and we did this strange dance of holding things together. Giving a little, taking a lot. Suddenly it was not just me. I had to consider how my decisions affected someone else. This is the US plate.

Five years later, after a lot of frustration and even more prayer, along came He-Bug and She-Bug, two little things that have changed my life more profoundly than I could ever imagine. I became responsible for keeping two additional human beings alive...yikes! I had to be wise, judged, coached, strong, selfLESS and so many other things. And I still have to do all those things. But I love it. This is the MOM plate.

Where do we go from here?

After those 3 rather large dinner plates, I have some salad plates spinning out there. There's the FAMILY plate that is really important to me but that I sometimes pay less attention to in order to achieve all the things in my care. I adore the time I have with my 61-year-old mom, my almost-still-a-newlywed sister and the other assorted nuts that fill out the extended family tree.

There's the CAREER plate that seems way less important than it did when I was single and had nothing else to live for.

There's my HOBBY plate that consists of scrapbooking and card-making...my outlet for creativity and a chance to get away and spend time with the gals in my circle.

There's the CHURCH plate. This is a bit of a confusing one. It is a plate all unto itself because I have commitments that I have stepped up to fulfill. I like serving and love being a part of church family. But this is not my JESUS plate. More on that later.

There's the SCHOOL plate that is directly related to the MOM plate. It includes school activities and extra curriculars. Of course I have this plate because I am a mom but being a mom is a much bigger job than just volunteering for the PTO.

There's the FRIEND plate teetering on the brink of being smashed to bits. I have really let my close women friendships go to pot. And the funny thing is I didn't even know it until I started thinking about some of the questions in this blog challenge. Who am I closest to? I hereby publically apologize to all my favorite gal pals for dropping the ball. What can I say...life got in the way. I think I'll see if I can get that plate spinning at a better pace.

There's the VOLUNTEER plate. This one is sometimes whirling at break neck speed and others it's a laxidasical rotation in danger of coming to rest. I put time into causes that I believe in and where my gifts can best be used. I'm a bossy know-it-all, I admit it. But that's not a bad thing if you're organizing a fundraiser or trying to round up volunteers.

Let's see...is that all?

Well, that's all I have to keep spinning. I mean I pretend to have it all together but really that credit goes to Jesus. Once I learned to turn it all over to Him (and yes, I do steal it back from time to time) I realized I am not really the one in charge here. I am not the commanding officer. I am not the manager on duty. I am quite simply... a servant. Think of me as a waitress at God's Diner. He's back there slinging the hash, creating the best delights for the people. All I do is carry my plates and give service with a smile.