THANKFUL FRIDAY

Right as you walk in the front doors to our local Trader Joe’s is a display of pumpkins, two large crates full of decorative gourds and on the first day of October, this display is a traffic jam of aggressive women filling their carts with these pumpkins and gourds. After successfully maneuvering my shopping cart through the pumpkin gauntlet, I ran smack into a display of dwarf olive trees. There were eight of them and a woman was scooping all of them into her cart. I managed to snag one of the eight even though I had no business buying an olive tree. I kill house plants. I have had plants rescued from my house because I am not a plant witch. I grabbed that olive tree with a fierce determination to keep this thing alive and so help me, I’m going to do it. In three years, we will be eating olives that I grew.

Then I went home and hot glued one hundred googly eyes onto my Halloween wreath.

This was how Michael found me when he got up. I was sitting at our table, hot glue gun in one hand and a bowl full of googly eyes in the other. He suggested I take a break by going to get lunch. I agreed and pointed out the olive tree and that needed a pot and potting soil. We also needed to decide Saturday’s dinner. I glued the last eye onto the wreath while Michael was in the shower and then the two of us drove off in search of food and planting material, which didn’t take as long at it usually takes us to do Saturday things. This meant that I was able to get all of the things done, the cleaning, the planting, the Halloween decorating, all of it accomplished before dinner. I did the things that I usually put off until Sunday and so on Sunday, I didn’t have to do anything.

So I went to a yoga class, a rare treat for me.

I’m telling you all of this now in a Thankful Friday posting because all of those things that I did last weekend have played a big role in helping me tackle this week. I woke up Wednesday morning and thought “It’s only Wednesday.” Michael sent a text to me that he had only poured hot water into his travel tea mug, no tea bags or sugar. I forgot my smoothie. The day was gray and cloudy. And all I could think was we still had two more days of this week to get through. This week has been long and uncomfortable.

Every time I have walked up to my front door, I have chuckled at the one hundred googly eyes looking back at me from my wreath. It is my reminder to allow for silliness and the healing power of laughter. Walking past the dining room window and seeing my olive tree still looking happy has brought me joy. That olive tree, a symbol of peace, is also a reminder of resilience. Making it to an actual yoga class set a precedent for my own practice this week, which has gotten a little wonky lately because of teaching and schedules. Josephine and I even made it out for our morning walks every morning this week. Sticking to these routines have been a source of grounding and have kept me present.

I am thankful that this week is nearly at an end and that I have this weekend to refill my buckets with good things.