We’re half way into the school holidays and
the kids are climbing the walls. I’m not far behind them. I’ve the uniforms to
buy, a pile of ironing the height of Kilimanjaro, a broken fridge and a tooth
that is nagging at me. If only I could
sleep til noon like my teenagers I’d halve the worry. Then something came along
that lightened my spirit. At the start of the week a friend in Australia
nominated me to take part in a simple experiment.
All I had to do was spend a few minutes
every evening for five nights reflecting on three good things that happened
that day. When I had thought of them, I was asked to post them on my Facebook
page each night and nominate three friends to do the same. By the end of the week the project would have
encouraged fifteen random people to reflect on the positive. It couldn’t have
come at a better time. so in the name of ‘Mindfulness’ I gave it ago. Here are
my fifteen:
1. Friendship.
“Do you
think I’m weird?” I asked my friend of forty years this week. “Yeah. But so am
I so who cares?” was how our conversation started this week. We share and laugh, we share and cry and I’m not sure where we’d be
without each other.
2. Home
Sweet Home.
After a week in a barge on the Llangollen Canal, I was
very happy to be home. Dad fell in, my brother fell in, and two of the dogs
fell in. Uncle Richard accidently threw my sister’s IPad into the murky canal
and I ended up in hospital with a peculiar swelling. My sister in law dropped her house keys into
the canal, my husband did the same with our car keys and we lost three pairs of
sunglasses. I am so thankful that we are in the AA and to the mechanic who
fixed our car when we started the journey home after what was supposed to be a
relaxing break.
3. Ready,
steady, cook. The teenagers have been cooking for me all week. It started
after I did a simple sum. I calculated how many meals I had cooked for the
family over the year. It came to almost
forty five thousand. So far dinners have been pasta based three nights in a row
but I am not complaining. I didn’t cook it and it tastes lovely.
4. Beard
appreciation. Every man under the age of thirty has grown a beard. They’ve
not been in fashion since the seventies and I was too young to remember all
that facial hair. They’ll be gone soon so I am enjoying the beard styles while
I can.
5. Secret
Agent. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone but I wrote a children’s book. This is the
week that I got an agent who is taking my little manuscript to the very big
Frankfurt Book Fair in October. It feels
a bit like making it through to the judges’ house on X Factor. Now it is a
waiting game. If you see me and I look a little strange, it is because my
fingers and toes are crossed.
6. Smoothie
Operator. Thanks to an impulse buy in Lidl, any fruit soft enough to be
squeezed has been blitzed and jazzed up with juice, honey and yoghurt. A simple
smoothie machine has brought a bit of excitement to the five a day. I’ve even
started to freeze my smoothies. I clean it every night until it shines. That’s
how much I love it.
7. The
lovely man at the Dry Cleaners. He dragged my smelly, much loved old duvet
out of the car and promised that he could make it look and smell fresh again.
“There is a risk,” he warned. “If it goes wrong it will explode in the machine.
It will go up like a nuclear explosion. Feathers everywhere”. I took the risk.
Watch out. I apologize in advance if a cloud of feathers hangs over the county
for the next few days.
8. Feet.
My youngest daughter, aged eleven, has the same sized shoes as me. “I can
wear your shoes now” she told me. This caused me to have a much needed clear
out of my shoe cupboard and hide the stilettoes.
9. Ireland.
I packed the kids into the car and drove up to Glendalough. We were there in
under an hour. The drive took us over the mountains and through some of the
most breathtaking scenery in Ireland. We walked for two hours in the blazing
sunshine past the big lake and back. Buses loaded with tourists were there too.
“You can see why they come here” my son commented as we tucked into a huge ice
cream on the way home. He’s dead right. Ireland has it all.
10. The
old roof box. It came to life once more after a good spray of WD40 and got
our clothes to Wales and back without falling off or cracking under the
pressure. Maybe I’ll keep it on the roof
permanently and putting the kids in it for a more peaceful school run in
September.
11. Whopper.
The shop up the road sells the biggest ‘99’ ice creams in the world. I’ve
eaten two this week.
12. Puppy
love. We’ve fostered another two puppies from the KWWSPCA. They are running
around the house with such energy and joy that it is impossible not to smile.
13. Art. Whilst on the hunt for school shoes I came
across the great art installation at Kildare Village this week. Susan Cuffe’s
work ‘Out Dancing With My Love’ left me feeling good about
the world.
15. The horrific images
from Gaza reminded me of the most important reason to be positive. Ireland is not at war. We live in peace.
Reasons to be cheerful? I have my fifteen.
Now it’s your turn.
