Recipes for a Happier World

Last week I wrote about the May long weekend, so I thought it only fair to tell you how I spent mine. See it as a private diary, if you like, but I take no responsibility if you’re scandalized beyond recovery by my wild and wicked exploits.

Friday: Date Night   

Hubby and I take turns planning our date nights, although it generally involves supper out. Friday night was his turn. After a yummy meal at Tornado’s, he took me to the river for a quiet evening around a campfire. He gave me the option of splitting wood or starting the fire with some kindling, but I wasn’t falling for that. Silly man obviously underestimates my laziness and overestimates my sense of adventure. 

“I think I’ll just sit here and watch you work,” I said, snuggling into my lawn chair. Watching a one-armed guy split wood is more entertaining than a movie, and a roaring, toasty fire soon blazed. We didn’t talk much, just stared into the flames and relished the silence. Birds chirped. The occasional wild turkey gobbled in the distance. Not a man-made sound to be heard, unless you count the crackling of the fire. Just us, enjoying creation. Ahhh. If everyone got to do this on a regular basis, we’d have a happier world.

Saturday: Yard Work

I can think of one or two activities I find more insufferable than yard work. Having a root canal comes to mind, although I’ve never actually required a root canal so I can’t say for sure. But, like housework, yard work must be done. Unlike housework, I don’t actually know how to do yard work. I just want to magically have a beautiful yard, is that too much to ask? Hubby says I should have married someone who either loves gardening or who’s rich enough to hire a gardener. In other words, “kwitcher belly-achin’ and grab a rake.” 

But Saturday was a lovely day. So I hoed the garden in preparation for planting, sprayed some weeds with an organic, homemade weed killer recipe I found on Facebook, and pruned two rose bushes—also with instructions garnered online. Knowing my non-green thumbs, I predict the weeds will survive and the roses won’t.

The rewarding part of my yard day was hosing down the outside of the house. Watching winter’s grime run down the walls to rejoin the dust of the earth made me feel like I actually accomplished something. If everyone got do hose down a dusty house on a regular basis, we’d have a happier world.

Sunday: Church

Part Four of a series called “A New Life by Summer” and this week’s topic was about better rest. Ever wonder why you come home from vacation or a day of recreational pursuits exhausted instead of refreshed? It was helpful to hear why this happens and how Sabbath rest is a gift from our creator, not a heavy yoke in a long list of rules and regulations. If we could just get a handle on this one good gift, everything else would fall into place and we’d have a much happier world. You can hear the full, inspiring message HERE.

Monday: Writing

When you write a weekly column for your local paper and a quarterly column for a writer’s magazine, and you want to enter a couple of short story contests and polish up your dusty ol’ novel for yet another contest, and the Chicken Soup for the Soul folks are enlisting submissions for a “Christmas in Canada” collection, and there’s a local website/magazine starting up, asking for contributors… well, there’s no end of possibilities for an introvert and her laptop on a drizmal holiday Monday. Like a pig in mud. If everyone got to spend a full day now and then doing what makes their heart come alive, we’d have a happier world.

(PS - If you have a story to submit for the “Christmas in Canada” book, go to www.chickensoup.com click on “submit your story” and follow the instructions.)