Series: Control Freak – Article One

SERIES TITLE: CONTROL FREAK

ARTICLE ONE: Hello, my name is Andi Andrew and I am a recovering control freak.

But seriously…

 

 

I have 4 kids and live in New York City (Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, to be exact; 4 stops from Manhattan) and there was a day a few months ago where I was 4 days late. Yes, 4 days late for my lady friend that I get to see every 30 days or so. I nearly had a heart attack. I am NEVER late AND I ALREADY have

4 KIDS IN NYC WHILST PIONEERING A NEW CHURCH. YES I AM YELLING!

I started to think of all the ways we could do this,  manage this, or make it work. I sat there and thought of how we had spoken of maybe adopting in the future (maybe) so what is 5 if it’s a possibility in the future anyway??? But really, I was just keeping my impending panic attack at bay.

All I could hear was Adele singing over me “Rolling In The Deep” and I went and got a paper bag to breathe into. A few days passed, and sure enough, I WASN’T pregnant. The alarm was well and truly false, but it made me consider the journey I have been on for the last 11 months to give up the reins of control in my life. The journey I am still on.

Ever since I had my blue-eyed, blonde-haired, big-headed, gorgeous, joyful, inquisitive, baby boy Samuel in September of 2012, it all changed. Why, you ask? Because like I said earlier, he was my 4th child. He is by far the easiest of my babies… slept through the night at 3 months, loves having his siblings all up in his business, and even when he is crying, he tries to smile because the kid is just happy.

Having 4 children and living in New York, you get looked at like either an alien or “the nanny” of the children you are toting around on the subway, because surely you wouldn’t do that on purpose??? Well, we did do it on purpose and we’re glad we did, challenges and all.

So why did this beautiful baby boy push me straight into the deep end? Because, simply put, I have control issues. When I had Sam, the “control freak” that has always been inside of me became freakishly obvious and reared its ugly head when he was born. I was trying to control everything in my sight including the people that I loved because baby #4 kicked the crazy meter over in our household… I couldn’t keep a thing clean for more than 5 minutes! It didn’t help that I had a bout of the shingles (yes, the thing that elderly people get, OR highly stressed people with a strand of the chicken pox virus lying dormant in their system like me… and this was not the first time I have had the shingles, which added insult to injury!). I started to realize that if I kept on this pathway, I was going to consistently & deeply hurt those that I loved in ways that I never really wanted to. I wanted to be consistent at loving them… not hurting them. It was all pointing to deeper issues I had never fully dealt with.

Something had to give…

I used to pride myself in the fact that I was able to control my circumstances, to keep a clean house anally clean. I would never miss an appointment or double book myself. I used to make dinners and think through menus for our family. I mean, the menus were nothing special, and taco night made an appearance every week, but at least it happened weekly. I used to relish grocery shopping and organizing drawers and cupboards. I used to compulsively organize my children’s toys as I put them away. The order made me feel safe.

Something had to give… something did. My beautiful baby boy’s birth pushed me over the edge into the greatest change in my life.

I was no longer in control… so who was?