Yesterday was shop Ikea day, so today was put it all together day. If my daughter and her roommates were impressed with my ability to read Ikea directions a month ago, they should’ve seen me today. I put together not only a bed, but a dresser, a nightstand and…are you ready for this one….an armoire. Yes, if there were a reality show for putting together Ikea furniture, following what my daughter calls a coloring book for directions, I would certainly win.
I love days like this. Put Neil Sedaka radio on Pandora, gather my tools, and dive in. There’s something about huge physical tasks around the house that give me great joy. So far I’ve painted every room inside and my eaves all around the outside of my house last fall. Moving ten yards of bark mulch rates right up there with these. Guess what the best part is? The mindless wandering of my brain from things that are bothering me to things that are pleasing me, and back again. Tension is eased from the physical part of the task and problems turn into solutions in the mental part. If I’m working with my husband, our pleasant banter gets a lot discussed, problems solved and plans made. We’ve owned 4 homes and 3 apartments in our married career and some of my best times spent with him were doing these huge, and sometimes much huger projects around the house.
Now, at the end of a day like this, I sit pleasantly tired, showered, after a wonderful dinner, and the last of the Pino Grigio to pull the weekend to a slow end. Tomorrow my body is going to revel in the hot room. I can’t wait for Monday morning.
Tonight I feel like this is the way life should be lived. Grateful for the things God gave me to take care of, like my home, and joyful in the extreme satisfaction I get from doing it. I was at lunch last week with a couple friends and they both pointed out that I truly loved working on my home. I never thought about it, but they were right. I remember my mother always saying how she loved fixing up her house, and every time one of us got a new home, she got such great joy from coming to see how we “fixed it up.” I guess I get it from her. Thanks mom, for instilling in me the innate desire to work on my home. It is only lately that I’ve become aware of the joy and relaxation I really do get out of it. No wonder I’m always involved in my children’s moves, too. Like mother, like daughter, and, yes, like my own daughters, too. The trait has been passed through the generations.
And so, as another day goes by, the garage is filled with Ikea boxes, the bedroom is beautiful, I’m tired, but truly mindful of the joy I experienced today, and….I have written.
Leave a Reply