Pulled Apart

Autism has long been linked to puzzle pieces. What causes it is one of it's biggest puzzles.

However, lately I've been feeling that puzzle paradigm in a new way:

Jame's lovely Mothers' Day portrait, going to pieces.

This is me, being pulled apart by in pieces:

• end-of school parties
• input meetings for teachers next year (because it's been me trying to get this done and things not working out for almost a month now)
• follow-up to get organized for summer school (because that's all on me)
• prepping for a trip that's perfect timing for the one person who's not traveling
• all the cleaning and organizing for the trip, plus --
•  -- catching up from when my daughter was sick for a week (still)
• dealing with the cherry tree bounty & messes
• end-of-year cards for teachers& support staff for James (5 of them)
• trying to work with a new respite aide because --
• -- our wonderful aide of 3+ years is moving
• prepping kids for a new aide
• dealing with a respite care agency that's been turned on it's head and has gone from not calling me to wanting a piece of my time once or twice weekly to do things that never got done or are new state requirements; shot me
• absentee voting for while I am out of the area on our trip
• trying to get haircuts for us all (that also got knocked out by daughter's illness)
• grocery shopping
• yard work
• doing everything a week ahead of time so bills and weekly chores don't get skipped while we are out of town
• trying to finalize trip itinerary
• still trying to get payment on  invoices for work done and billed last year
• and: dealing with the fact that I now have an all-electric car and no charging stations in our town; this one's a long story, and responsible for large parts of my right hand falling prey to excema.

And I know I am forgetting stuff.

Gah!