Great Expectations?

I don't know if I'm giving in, or giving up, but I've decided to help myself by lowering

my own expectations.

This epiphany occurred to me after preparing my fourth dish for Passover, which doesn't even start until sundown on Friday. I'm already exhausted.

There's the idealized, yet once attainable vision of family and friends, happily smiling around the table, food fit for a magazine cover, nails polished and shining, not a hair out of place, and then there's the reality. My nails are bare and chipped, my feet and back ache from standing and I wonder, where's my sous-chef? Lets face it, middle age does not afford us the same energy we once had. Our stamina is not what it used to be.

So, how do we lower these expectations? First, stop being so darn organized. People expect more when you are organized. Efficiency is highly overrated. People who profess to being all loosey goosey are a lot less tired and more relaxed. And aren't you always mildly surprised at how well their dinner parties turn out? Because you had no expectations!

I think these come-as-you-are-I'm-just-throwing-stuff-together-hippy-dippy-people know exactly what they're doing. I'm on to your last-minute-spontaneous-get-together-invites.

Why this may translate into other areas of my life. I am so tired of showering every morning after I exercise and picking out clothes to wear. And the makeup, oy, so much trouble. Why I'm just going to wear my exercise clothes to run errands. Well, I'll shower (because not showering would be gross) and I'll put on clean exercise clothes, but skip the makeup. And if I bump into someone they won't think, "Wow, she needs to put herself together." No, they'll think, "She's an exercise fiend."

I am no longer going to be an A-type personality. I'm not even going to use spell check for this blog post. Woah, that's just crazy talk. Baby steps girl, baby steps.