Welcome to my blog on topics about keeping the home - or attempting to - as a Gen X Mom of four and wife to one. :) This blog is written by me, Lori Seaborg, from the Florida-Alabama Gulf Coast. I'm not the person who is ahead of you in mothering and homemaking knowledge. I'm just the gal right beside you, motivating the 11yo daydreamer, keeping up with the 9yo future homemaker extraordinaire (every mama needs a helper like this one!), teaching the rascally 6-year-old while occupying the 3yo. Let's learn together!
This morning I was attracted to the view out the French doors of our river and our back yard. It has been days since we’ve seen sunshine, due to Hurricane Rita’s cloud cover. The sun was shining through the oak and cedar and birch trees, the river was sparkling, the wind was gusting, and the chickens looked as lovely as can be as they roamed among the jungle called “lawn” that needs to be . . .
. . . mowed. Badly. And there are broken limbs that need to be cut out of the trees. The logs that are stuck in the river from the hurricanes, what will we do about those? We can’t canoe until we get their massive selves out of the way. More tropical systems may come our way, like Rita. Oh, just great, look, Rita knocked over the lawn chairs and the tarp is in the neighbor’s yard again. And it is so blasted hot! When is it ever going to feel like late September? . . .
In the middle of those unlovely thoughts came an unexpected one:
“Never complain about anything. Not even the weather.”*
I remembered something that I read a long time ago: We can only have one thought at a time.That seems impossible for us multi-tasking moms, but it is true.We can only think one thought at a time. That means I can either dwell on our hard times and on negative things, or thank God for what I can find that is good.
Once I was reminded of my choice, I decided to again look at the good in the yard, and I thanked God that we are healthy and can do all of those big jobs we need to do. We will have months of lovely weather soon. And . . . I thought with a smile, if it wasn’t “so blasted hot,” I wouldn’t have lemons and tangerines to pick from my trees!
Now, I know that all of you do not have lemons to cheer you up, but you have something!
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite sayings:
“Two women looked through prison bars; one saw mud, the other saw stars.”
I can second a recommendation for "Calm my Anxious Heart" ...its' a great book...one that really changed my life and thinking. I'm often reminded (mid-complaint) of that line...never complain about anything, even the weather. Thanks for the reminder, Lori.
While I am currently in the optimistic mode since my home is standing and we have electricity, I'm sure I will need to be reminded of your encouraging words tomorrow when I look at my lawn and driveway riddled with debris. At least we got the roof swept off today...and it IS so hot!!! At least it's supposed to be relatively decent by the weekend.
Enjoy your lemons and make some lemonade to refresh yourself! Or does that not happen until winter-ish? I'm not sure if MY lemon tree is normal or not...
It is often difficult to focus on the positive. Why do we seem programmed to notice every littlenegative thing that happens and let all the positive be swept under the rug? It is the same in parenting. It is easy to be hyper-critical of our children and continually point out their shortcomings. In a parenting course I used to teach, we recommended focusing on providing eight positive interactions with your child for every negative. That is really hard to do...you really have to re-train your mind to look for what those little guys are doing right to keep from giving empty praise...
I am truly just laughing, at the irony of me reading this blog AFTER our picnic!! I did have a good time, despite the rain, and it was nice to finally meet you. Maybe the three *momma's* can have coffee all by ourselves next time?
Gayle
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