What are the key components of a good day? Waking up healthy? Waking up period? Sleeping in? Getting up early and having quiet time? A healthy breakfast? A not so healthy breakfast? A steaming cup of your favorite coffee or tea? A job you love? Not having to go to work? A quiet lunch? A lunch with friends? An afternoon nap? A good dinner? Company for dinner? Having someone else cook dinner? A movie? A night out? Game night? A quiet evening at home?
There are so many options and it seems that the answer is mainly based on our particular preferences and interests. Or is the answer really more about our attitude? Can it be a good day when you oversleep and are running late and there’s no time for breakfast and your cup of coffee is lying on the pavement because you put it on the roof of your car and forgot about it after you got the door unlocked, got inside, and drove away? What about if someone swipes your lunch or you eat peanut butter and jelly at your desk or if all your coworkers go out for lunch and forget to invite you? What if some annoying presidential speech is on instead of your favorite show or your cable goes out or you’re eating alone because that special someone still hasn’t shown up in your life?
There’s nothing wrong with wanting life to be easy, to go our way, to be what we want and expect. Except that it’s not really how life goes, is it? It’s a roller coaster of good things and not so good things and sometimes really horrible things. Even though it goes against everything I feel, I am trying, making a solid effort to be thankful, even when things aren’t going the way I want, when I’m hurt or sick or grieving or lonely or just plain fed up.
But sometimes there are days like today, that are very nearly perfect. Even though I was up at five am, I was warm and cozy in my comfortable bed, with a good book to read while I waited for the sun to rise at 8:42 so I could take Hannah outside. After I let the chickens out, I kicked a ball around for Hannah while I watched to see whether the sun was going to be able to poke out from behind the clouds (it didn’t).
There were some errands to run and the first on the list was a stop at a new bakery for a freshly baked chocolate croissant. There will be more about that in a future post – oh yes! Other errands included a stop at the hardware store, a consignment shop, and a grocery store, but also one of my other favorite places, the Boulevard Market for some cheese.
Then it was off to visit my cousins who were hard at work on a house they are renovating. The house is lovely, an old farmhouse in the country whose walls are crying out for a family to come and make it their home. The sun had come out and the temperature was up over fifty-five degrees, which very rarely happens in late November in Michigan.
After a delicious lunch, it was time to get some chili cooking and then go outside to pull the last of the carrots from the garden. After last night’s rain, it was a muddy and dirty job, but it was still a joy to pull the rainbow colored carrots out to enjoy over the next few weeks. This probably wasn’t the high point of the day, but next on the agenda was pulling thistles and burdocks that had gotten away from us over the summer. Hopefully this year we can win the battle that I’ve personally declared against pickers!
After that it was time to tromp around the perimeter of our sixteen acres. Hannah bounded in and out of the tall grass, appearing and disappearing, very busy with so many things to smell and investigate, and unfortunately, roll in. Some of the grass in the meadow was so soft, I had to take a moment to lie down and soak in a little sunshine.
Much to Hannah’s dismay, the next thing on the agenda was a bath for her. Maybe one day she will realize that anytime she rolls in something that she finds delightful, a bath is sure to follow. Then it was time for a brief rest before my little cousins came over to help put ornaments on a tiny tree in our living room and decorate the dollhouse for Christmas. And handcuff me to the rocking chair, but it was all in good fun.
A delicious meal of chili with cornbread followed, plus a chocolate cookie from the earlier trip to the bakery. While I did dishes I listened to a favorite podcast and then puttered around my room enjoying some solitude. Now it’s time to get this posted and get into my jammies and call it a day. A very, very good day.