Last week was a big one for me. February first snuck up on me like a mosquito mid-summer. I’m typing this note right into the “Quick Press” option without multiple drafts or time to reconsider. Last week I turned in my first three papers and 10 poems for my MFA program. Yesterday, I held a Bridal Expo for over 300 people with 40-plus vendors and tens of thousands of dollars on the line, one way or another. There were two fashion shows, three caterers, fifteen wedding cakes, hundreds of important young ladies anticipating their big day and there was one of me.

But here is my blog of February first, such as it is. I can tell you that since writing my last blog, I have been thinking about my issue with “rules.” Why can’t I do things the way people normally do them? Why can’t I follow the rules? I wondered if “following the rules” for a day or a week wouldn’t be the biggest risk of all for me. What would that be like? I’m not making a commitment here – just thinking about it. What if I got up at 5:30 did 30 minutes of Cardio, woke the kids up at 6, got to work on time (for the first time), took exactly a one-hour break, left at 5 on the dot, got home, made dinner, did home work and reading with the kids, cleaned the house, prepped for the next day’s meals, and went to bed by 9? That’s what the rules look like to me. Do I want to do it? Sometimes.

Of course there are other rules I need to look at – fiscal restraint, time management, emotional reserve, domestic conservation (we waste too much food!), organization, discipline for the kids. It’s also true that my husband thinks I’m too rigid, too goal oriented, too ambitious. And I think he’s too laid back, too likely to prioritize luxury domestic details over essentials (pruning our own Crepe Myrtles on Wednesday morning).

But I am taking the risk of following one rule this morning. I’m writing my blog – even though it might not be a very good one. And I guess the second risk I’m taking is simply to ask the question, “What are the rules I need to follow? And what will I gain? What will I lose?”

Melissa Dickson Blackburn is a Mother, Poet, Visual Artist, Blogger, Marketing Director. MFA Poetry candidate at Converse College. MFA, Painting from SVA, NYC 1995.
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