Reality is What You Make It
This might seem crazy, but I have been
discovering (or as it would seem re-discovering) some simple truths and I wanted
to share a few of them.
It was the day before Mother's Day and I was moping
around the house and feeling a little self-pity. After all, my husband had just
left at 4:30AM to catch a flight on Saturday and now I was going to spend
Mother's Day by myself. Even my Mom was gone. My Mother had moved up to
Washington a year ago. So it was looking like Mother's Day was going to be a
wash.
But then I decided to cut it with
the self-pity. Life is what you make it. As John Milton had written in
Paradise Lost "The mind is its own place, and in itself; can make a
Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
So I
decided that even if I wasn't going to have the coolest Mother's Day in the
world; I was going to do my best to make sure that other people would have a
good Mother's Day.
Laurana and I then got
in the car and after a trip to the Dollar Tree and Safeway we had some pretty
cool Mother's Day gifts on our hands. I decided to get together Mother's Day
packages for my friend Laurie and Laurana's Grandma (my husband's Mom) Diane. We
bought balloons and everything (man, I love the Dollar Tree). I felt really
happy that I would be making someone else happy that day. I was also glad that I
was no longer wallowing in self-pity. I then spent the rest of the day doing
something I love, namely gardening. I put in two new planter beds. (I built them
all by myself!) And my daughter helped me dutifully during the afternoon as I
hooked up "rain drip" systems and lugged all of the soil into the beds. Laurana
was also instrumental in encouraging me on to plant all of our seedlings that
were first planted in seed trays in February. I now have 50 corn plants, 3
watermelons, 15 beefsteak tomatoes, 3 basils, 2 pumpkins, 1 honeydew and 1
cantaloupe growing in out planter beds. Man, we're going to have some yummy
stuff to eat this Summer!
Mother's Day
has been fun so far. When I got up this morning I found an answering machine
message left by my husband at 4:37AM this morning. He was wishing me a Happy
Mother's Day. My daughter (who is now 7) made me breakfast in bed. I had toast
and yogurt. She also brought me 4 cards and some chocolate truffles she had made
at school and at daycare.
We then got up
and dropped off the first Mother's Day package at my friend's Laurie's house.
She was still in her PJ's but very happy that we had thought of her. She then
invited us over for dinner! Yeah! I'm bringing lava cake and wine! We also
dropped off the Mother's Day package at Grandma Diane's. She wasn't there. But I
know that she went out for Mother's Day. I hope that she enjoys the surprise and
balloons when she gets home.
Anyway,
today has been very satisfying. So if you ever feel the blues or feel self-pity
again. Just stop and think about how you can make someone else happy. And in the
process you'll make yourself happier as
well!
Have a Happy Mother's
Day!
Posted: Sun - May 13, 2007 at 04:33 PM