Burning the candle at both ends for too long only makes you sick. How do I know? I made myself sick.

Not just a little sick, the pneumonia kind of sick. It is not a fun place to be. Being this sick also limits the fun activities one usually experiences to write about and pretty much dampens even the smallest amount of creativity that can be summoned up for story contemplation.

So here I sit. In front of my computer, wondering if Bremerton would be willing to cut me a little slack this week if my column is somewhat lacking in the entertainment department.

The good news is that I am on the road to recovery and should be back at near normal levels soon. I will even attempt to do what my doctor has suggested and reduce my overall commitment load by one third. Don’t worry, my “Everything Bremerton” column is not part of that one third reduction.

I did ask him point blank if my husband had tattled on me about my excessive schedule when he was in to see our doctor last week. He said no, but that I had supermom burnout syndrome written all over me. That and the smoke coming from my Blackberry as it tried to keep up-to-date might have been a clue. That’s just great.

That said, I certainly hope everyone else in Bremerton gets out this coming weekend to enjoy the Armed Forces Day Parade. Being from Puyallup, the Daffodil Parade was a large part of my growing up, both watching it and marching in it as a band member. Parades are the community’s way of celebrating and recognizing the best of itself. Take your family, grab a piece of curb, unfold your chairs, sit back and enjoy a couple hours of hometown fun. Do not get confused with that other parade up north … Viking something. But, hey, they don’t get a military flyover so basically it is not really worth mentioning. The Bremerton parade is much better by far.

Whatever you decide to do this weekend, take my advice and slow down just a little. Make sure you are taking care of yourself and not burning your candle at both ends.

Recharge your internal batteries once in a while and avoid the burnout. Trust me it is not worth it if you end up sick.

I will be back out there real soon enjoying and writing about all that Bremerton has to offer. See you all then.

Colleen Smidt’s column appears weekly. Write to her at smidtracing@hotmail.com.