Detours and Distractions
Lately I've been busying myself with some home improvement projects and haven't been spending very much time making keys. Self-made distractions if you will, I:
- bought an earth tower and planted it (it's so cool - takes up 4 feet of space, holds up to 50 plants, and has a vermicomposter in the middle of it)
- cleaned up the messy front porch (and finally started putting up the bits of tin can ceiling I'd riveted together last summer)
- went to an Art in the Park Day (partly for work and mostly for pleasure)
- went to the Pride Parade (bigger turn out each year - yes!)
- went to an art opening (beautiful!)
- went to a conference (stimulating!)
- went to my day job (important!)
and I also:
- fed the cat (he can be persistent about this)
- fed the cat some more (because he's so persistent and my husband's been away)
- woke up way too early (because the cat wanted to be fed)
- put some peonies in a bowl (which the cat promptly drank from)
- found some lights for the back deck (only $8 in the clearance aisle at Home Sense - and just the perfect amount of tacky lighting that should look great once the ivy grows in)
- rode my bicycle whenever I could
- butchered the lawn on the boulevard with the weed whacker (my bad)
- and avoided cleaning the garage.
Last Thursday I took a detour over the behaviour of a loved one. Not as big as past detours but a detour none the less. A detour that gnawed at my mind, changing my behaviour, and making me less tolerant of the normal parts of the work day. The good news is I didn't cry (OK. Well, a little bit).
Then on Friday I received an early morning - and I mean an early before you've gone-to-work-call - from another loved one. Thankfully no one had died. But it wasn't great news. Unexpected perhaps, but not shocking. And also I didn't cry. (OK. I cried a very little bit).
Prior to these detours I was feeling a bit annoyed about the day job seeming to take so much time and energy (even though I do recognize how great the day job is at paying for all the lovely distractions). Which - OK, OK - are enjoyable and satisfying and that's why I've been making them.
I'd forgotten though about life's detours. How they can gnaw at a person and take them out of what they are doing. How just because things are great for me they might not be great for others. How concern for a loved one can throw a big curve ball into plans and projects and the making of keys...
Here's to remembering how good things in my life really are.
