When what I had planned for the day was spoiled by vomit, I still had choices. I could sulk and be grumpy (ok, I was for a time…) OR I could approach the day differently. One could say, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. When life gave us vomit – we made tie dye T’s!
I wasn’t productive in the way I intended when the day began, but now I see how productive the day really was. Today I read a post by Nancy Blakely. The following is a piece of what she wrote:
During my baby years, the years our four children were between the ages of newborn and five, I divided the world into ‘permanent’ and ‘impermanent’ things. The daily mountain of laundry, washing dishes, grocery shoppping, all fell into the ‘impermanent’ side of life. These things seemed necessary but dull. Anybody could do them, and they would be done today, tomorrow, and the tomorrow after that. Impermanent, as I saw it, would not change the world or leave a trace of my performance.
Permanents, on the other hand, left an impression in the slippery slide of my life. Reading a book, writing in my journal, making something: a sweater, an arrangement of flowers, a slingshot, meant I was alive underneath the fatigue.
I appreciate her words and insight. I constantly battle the tug-of-war between the “permanent” and “impermanent”. It is good to read reminders of where focus and intentions should be. I would not have regretted accomplishing all my “to-do’s” that day, but I prefer the fun and excitement the kids and I shared as we splashed and stained perfectly good white shirts…
