This morning I was feeling a bit “low”. I was tired, and had way too much to do. In addition, a relative had called to tell me about an argument they had had with someone, and I was concerned about the family “politics” involved. (I find it very irksome when family members bicker. If you can’t stay on the good side of your family, you have problems. There is no replacement, in general, for family.)
Just then my 18-year-old, David, arrived with his laundry. (We have a friendly agreement: I do laundry and he chauffeurs me once a week.) He made himself a cup of coffee, and a few minutes later he mentioned that he had some free time this morning. So, he asked, did I want him to run that errand I had asked him to do a week ago (or had I done it in the meantime)? I replied that he could certainly do it.
-“Anything else I can do for you?”
So I gave him a small list, and in the meantime he noticed that the trash needed emptying, and put it by the door to take down in a few moments.
Within five minutes my “blues” had faded. I felt much more energetic, and started the day’s chores.
See the power of giving someone the feeling that they are not alone? That someone cares? Of offering to do something small for them “on the way”? Five minutes changed the day for me. (Well, almost. I’m still falling asleep when I sit down….)
And David didn’t loose out either. He received a good lunch in recompense.
And PS: One of the things I did today was to cancel an activity that Ricky likes, but doesn’t need. This activity takes about 3 hours of my time each week, and I decided that my health and sanity has to be more important. If I am overloaded, and overbooked, it is time to draw some lines. (Another line will be reading fewer blogs. If less people pursue this blog here as a result, I’ll have to accept that. I hope I’ll write well enough to pull readers anyway.)
5 comments:
Thanks for reminding us that we can powerfully impact on other lives through the "small deeds," and that it's equally important to take care of ourselves by taking a good look at the 'shoulds' on our calendar!
I, too, am reading fewer blogs, but yours is a keeper. Thanks for following mine.
Maureen Lee
www.ideal-way.blogspot.com
Your story made me feel good, and since that is often true when I visit your blog, I will be back.
I admire your discipline. Reading blogs has become very habit-forming. Barbara
Barbara, don't admire my discipline so fast! I arranged the blogs I enjoy as a "follower"... and found that I had fourty!
As a profound reading addict this is no surprise, but I will have to cut down, which I hope to do. (At least 10 of those fourty are infrequent posters, so with the "follow " feature I can follow almost painlessly.At least by using the follow feature, I don't have to "check" for posts, which makes it MUCH quicker. One even sees the start of the post, so it can help you avoid posts like recipes,or whatever you might not be interested in.
S'okay, we are about equal in discipline, Rickismom. I just divided my too-long favorites list so that I was spending less time checking slow sites, too. You are a bit ahead of me in using the follow feature - I only do that with two now. I suspect I will get around to that, too, eventually. Barbara
Wow, you've got a good kid! B"H. He sounds like a real mench. Great job on the parenting there.
There are so many blogs I enjoy reading, I don't always get to read all of them at once, but I try to go through every post. I like reading one blog at a time, so sometimes I wait till I know I will have time, then I go through a bunch of posts at once, like I just did now.
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