Issue 47.12
On my daily online blog (lettersfromlin.blogspot.com) I like to put poems I write on my observations about life. Here’s something I wrote about Just An Ordinary Day // No accidents, no traumas / to deal with. Just very quiet: / Meals to cook, laundry to do / plans to make, opportunities / surround me, but I look / with half closed eyes, / wanting more––something special, / different, exciting––not really / appreciating just a normal day.
We are surrounded by ordinary things that are really quite extraordinary, if we take the time to contemplate: a heart that regularly beats hour after hour, cuts that heal quickly, hot water from the tap, flush toilets, refrigerators to keep your food from spoiling, etc. I realized this as I was doing my laundry the other day and wrote down these verses:
WOMAN’S WORK// Beating clothes on rocks in streams / or carrying water to pour into tubs, / a tired woman scrubs on her washboard, / lays garments on rocks and bushes to dry. // No machines do her work, / just elbow grease, sun and wind. / If rain or dust soil clean laundry, / she begins her day’s labor over. // My grandma thrills with her mangle / washer, the ease of wringing clothes. / No twisting or squeezing laundry /by hand continues to amaze her. // Living in rural railroad housing / without electricity, my dad buys /a gas operated washer for mom. / Luxury comes to her Spartan life style. // Drying wet laundry demands a clothesline, / I think of their hands working outside / while I toss my dirty clothes in machines / that do my work easily for me.
Instead of complaining about life’s problems, try being thankful for the progress that has come to your life compared to your ancestor’s lives. They struggled with no electricity or automobiles. You can’t imagine life without a cell phone. Try to practice more gratitude and less complaining in your life. When the frig starts making strange noises and you need to call a repairman, be grateful. When the computer breaks down, be thankful you have one. If a relative disappoints you, respond with love and forgiveness because you are part of a family. Take some time today to write in your journal a list of things you are thankful for and be amazed at how it changes your outlook on a normal ordinary day.
NEXT TIME: Good Old Days? Time to Christmas shop? Buy a book for a loved one. Collections of these columns are available for $10 each Looking Back at the Good Old Days or Find Your Voice: Write Your Life Story. Contact lin@sunrivertoday.com.