Clearing Up Some Misunderstandings About My Sabbatical

Now that I’m back from my sabbat and I’ve shared all I learned from my experience, I can open my big fat mouth again address a misunderstanding that was conveyed directly before I left regarding my time off.

Basically, the comment in question said, “It must be nice to have the money and luxury to take six months off and do nothing…not feeding the kids or taking care of the home. That doesn’t sound very responsible.” I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh my head off…so I sneezed…with my legs crossed…because I’ve had seven babies bouncing on this ol’ bladder. Keepin’ it real.

If others of you thought I shipped off the fruit of my loin and spent six months on the beach with meals being brought to me by cabana boys because I’m filthy rich and I didn’t have to lift a finger for half a year, know this:

1) We are traveling music missionaries who are subsidized by NOBODY. We lost all our investments, our savings, and our business in the 2008 crash. We don’t have money; we serve the Lord and He gives us our daily bread. We have no benefits, no employer-subsidized retirement plan, no employer-subsidized dental or health care, no paid vacation, no salary. We have us and our ability to keep going. Starving artist, starving writer, starving musician–there is a reason those expressions exist.

2) I took six months off THE BLOG, not off of life. I still homeschooled, cooked, planned menus, shopped for grocery bargains, worked for the mission, mothered, wifed, traveled the country, wrote a book, cleaned, didn’t get manicures, didn’t get haircuts, didn’t buy new clothes, and wrote articles for pay to help out the finances, which the blog doesn’t reliably do. (That “for pay” only goes with the articles, not all the other hats this mama wears.) I don’t have–nor do I want–the luxury of taking six months off of all those other activities!

3) Shhhhh. Relax. Simmer down as my Pappy used to say. The gist of my post and my sabbat is that, for a short time, I was giving up something that was not a necessity to leave room for more important things, to catch up on some items, and to rest and recharge. I never implied in any way that I or you should give up all responsibilities for six months and be lazy. 

4) And the burning question I would really like to ask people who comment without TRULY reading the post is this: Don’t I hear your mother calling? Okay, so the real question is this: Is my writing THAT unclear that you would think, after all I say about family first, that I want you to disregard your family’s needs for six months and be a bum? If that is what I communicated, then I need to give up as a writer…like, yesterday. Seriously, am I that bad? I need to know the truth.

Another concern some readers had about my sabbat was that I was merely shifting my blog time to my book-writing time. This is a legitimate concern, but let me lay it to rest. Writing is my thing–I can be highly productive in a short amount of time. What consumes my time with the blog is the technical aspect–all the thingies and doo-jabs that go along with images, promotion, uploading, linking, plug-ins, advertisers, affiliates, fixing everything that breaks when I merely touch an electronic device, and blah blah blah blech! Technology is totally and entirely not my thing.

When writing my book, all I had to do was write and hit “save.” The whole process was smooth like butter. Mmmmm…butter. And it took considerably less time than blogging–considerably less. So, no, writing the book was a time-saver, not a time-replacer.

Are we all copacetic with my sabbat now? And is my writing really that bad?

copacetic: adjective, slang. fine, completely satisfactory, okay. (origin: 1915-20 Americanism)