Don't let worries ruin your day

I don't know what tomorrow holds for us.  I love my life here on Woodhaven Acres and dislike changes, but change is part of life.  This morning I stepped outside with a troubled mind, and the Universe spoke to me:  "Look around you," it said.  "Is the sun still in it's place in the sky?  Are the trees still green?  Is your husband still alive and able to enjoy life with you?  What is wrong with this day?  If all is well right now, why are you wasting this good day worrying about what might or might not happen in a month or a year?"

So I took a slow look in all directions and saw the grass and trees, heard the birds singing and a neighbor's rooster crowing in the distance.  Other than the fact that the day is going to be a scorcher, I realized it was a fine one; and who cares how hot it gets when we have air conditioning?  My husband is sitting on the other end of the couch as we surf the Internet; he'll go to the pulmonologist this afternoon to see if his breathing is improved.  As I type this, I thank God for doctors.  Doctors have saved his life twice that I know of:  Once when he had a four-way heart bypass, and once after his gall bladder exploded... that doctor actually told me, "He could have died."

My dog is a good companion in spite of the fact he sometimes strays from home.  He and Blue the cat keep me entertained.  One never has to be bored these days, with television and music always handy and free books galore to read from the public library.  

So I've stopped thinking about what might happen later on and have seized this day.  I pushed away thoughts of all the things I've lost with age and started counting all the things I am still able to do.  My steps are slower, but I can walk.  Some days my knees hurt pretty bad, but Tylenol eases the pain.  I can't lift my largest cast-iron skillet to pour gravy into a bowl, but I have other skillets I can handle just fine.  

This day is truly all I have, so I refuse to throw it away worrying.  

One of my blog-followers, Margie, left a comment saying she hoped we were careful while our family was here for the Fourth:  I felt pretty safe, really; but since the experts have told us we have to settle in for the long haul with this covid-19, I made up my mind that life really isn't worth living if you can't see your loved ones.  So we hugged.  We kissed the babies.  We laughed and shared memories of family members who are no longer with us... and I felt alive again!  We also had a fellow doing some work in one of the bathrooms, but I didn't hug him... although I almost felt like it, when I saw the result of his hard work.

I wear a mask in stores.  I don't go into crowded places unless it's absolutely necessary, so I surely won't be going to country music shows any time soon.  But family is what life is all about, and if we have to live with Covid, I'll have to take my chances, hugging and kissing every great-grandbaby.  It really bothers me we can't go visit my sister in Oklahoma, simply because she's past 90 years old; she's in good health, but at 90, you just don't know how long she might have... although she's so healthy, she'll probably outlive me.

We each have to make our own decisions, and my choices may not be the same as yours.  I am not one of these people who make fun of others for wearing masks.  We have enough of those:  they've taken over Facebook with their selfish rants about their "rights" to walk into a store and possible infect others.  I'll never understand why they have to tell the world about it... if that's your decision, just shut up and do as you please, because it doesn't impress me.