Driven to Exhaustion

Janet writes: We spent most of the day driving yesterday. First we drove a little over an hour west to pick up Tim’s parents. Then we drove three hours southeast to visit Tim’s aunt (his father’s sister). It was her birthday, so we went out to lunch and spent some time visiting. After that, we drove about 15 minutes further south to show Tim’s parents where I grew up, as they are not familiar with that part of the state. Finally, we drove back home, taking an alternate route due to road construction. Tim and I left the house at 7:00 a.m. and returned home at 8:30 p.m. Looong day, but very worth it so that Tim’s dad could see his sister.



This morning we were both exhausted and I could tell that Tim’s brain just wasn’t clicking into gear. He was very slow to get out of bed and a bit absent minded while getting ready to leave the house. Morning is usually Tim’s better time of day, so he only acts this way in the morning when he’s overdone it the day before. He will be fine after a large cup of coffee and some time spent with his men’s group from church.


We usually try to manage our activities to prevent too much fatigue. Tim will hit is “wall” and he will stop to rest. When he is very involved in a project, however, he forgets to stop and wants to push through until it’s done. If I don’t make him stop, he ends up overtired the next day. Most of the time I am able to get him to rest, but on days like yesterday, that is not possible. When the day prevents rest breaks, we just have to plan on being tired the next day and doing what we can instead of what we feel we have to.


We try not to have days like yesterday too often, but when we are helping our elderly parents, it’s not a bad thing. We will get over being tired, and we helped Tim’s aunt to have a happy birthday!