Spring... Finally...

Today is the most beautiful day in 2013, our first real sighting of a lasting spring… And the third day in a row that I have held it together, meaning I accomplished my goals for the day. The weather helps and makes moving around tons easier. My doors and windows are open, my outside fountain was turned on… and I lived.

It’s time to discuss what it means to achieve a daily goal… My goals today: drive and shop at the grocery store, and to manage my doctor’s appointment… Alone.

That is all I did, and to me that is a huge success. I also made my own lunch (which was an amazing salad with club soda), did some laundry, returned some calls, made snack for the kids after school, helped with homework, started dinner, watched over showers and bedtime rituals, cleaned and tidied the house a wee bit and finally sat down to write a post.

Now if you were reading clearly, here is what I didn't do: Get the kids ready for school, make lunches, breakfast, drive carpool, pull a lunch/playground shift, drive carpool home, make dinner, do dishes…

And that is “A OK”, in my book, I have shifted my priorities, I have embraced what works for me and I have also made peace with what I can accomplish in this body.

I do plan-ahead for the busy week, knowing that the wave of unrelenting fatigue can come at any time… But I also triumph in my good days… Today fit the bill, and I loved it and lodged it into my list of beautiful memories, my exquisite moments…

A good day also means possibly stepping down off medicines, or maybe it means that the meds are holding me steady, that I’m finally stable, I’m managed… These are all safe words for us… Those who battle this war within…

When I was a teen we had the most glam neighbor, her name was Molly, she was from Kentucky and she was in her 70s when I was in my teens. She had been married to her husband for 50 yrs. and they still looked and acted like lovers in their 20s… They were the real “Notebook” couple with none of the drama. Molly gave me lots of practical advice; I would sit and drink lemonade in my school uniform while she worked in her flower garden…

She and her beloved would garden and work hard outside, and at 5, she would step inside and come back out with Waterford champagne flutes and they would drink good champagne in their muddy garden clothes. Later she would go inside, shower, dress and make this amazing dinner. She would serve a four course meal, more wine, crystal, candles and china on the back patio, listening to music and they would delight in the garden and each other…

It was from watching them, teachers of marriage, that I learned the best lesson of my life, which is; drink champagne on Tuesday… Celebrate the normal… Celebrate the everyday…

Don’t wait for a special occasion, celebrate the sunshine or a bunch of flowers at the store, a nice phone call, an A on the spelling test or better yet celebrate the B-… Or a successful day in the garden... Delight in the everyday, in the normal; because when life is bumpy, you will long for the simple, for the normal…

So that is why I celebrate today.

Because, today was perfect!

I went to the store and got to the doctors and my family is safe, happy and really tired…

It was a great day…

Hope yours was too…

Kathryn

PilgrimageGal

photo credit: Kathryn Ferguson

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