You can’t just…
Mothers knew best
High school photo of my beloved mom, Eldene
In simpler times, when treasures were scarce, and homes were small, little things mattered. Were your clothes clean and mended? Was your house ever-ready for drop in company? Did you follow through with a promise that everyone knew about? Rules could be broken, but not without comment, or consequences. In our busier times, with so much STUFF, and distractions from every which way… it’s time to maybe stop and drop and “do ten” of the basics, the ones you likely heard from your mom.
YOU CAN’T JUST…
1. let dishes sit in the sink. They become twice too hard to get clean. Stop dreading and DO THEM.
2. walk away from an unmade bed, or unclean sheets. You deny the joy of flipping back the covers and rumpling them anew.
3. ignore any spot or stain. It grows larger, you know it will, and attracts other more disgusting detritus.
4. deny that tiny hole, or loose thread, in clothing or furniture. Fabric loves mending, lest unraveling begins. A stitch in time….
5. use the last paper towel/tissue/sip or spoonful without replenishing. Even if you live alone, you’ll regret it. And if you don’t? Ooh, such disrespect for your beloveds. They’ll take it personally, and should.
6. break a promise. Especially to yourself. It will follow you all your days. I fear St. Peter has a long list waiting for me.
7. receive a blinding insight, inspiration, or terrific impulse and delay starting. It will move on to someone more willing to nurture it.
8. not take preventive measure of bank accounts, credit cards, the fuel gauge or tire pressure. Or coffee!
9. put off walking, stretching, hydrating, resting, maybe in that order. You’ll die sooner. Trust me.
10. think of someone you love, care about, wonder if they’re okay, and not reach out. They could be calling out to you over the collective unconscious. Especially? It’s never too late to say happy birthday/glad you were born or thank you. Or… I’m sorry.
S’truth that big problems, lacks, debts start infinitesimally small. If we can but obey the ping, the prick, the flash of insight, and dive into the impulse to deal? Life gets good, mostly. If we don’t, we will dodge growing obstacles and think of life as too hard. Things nowadays are too replaceable; people, too. Or so it seems, but there is always a payback. I end with two stories. The first about Mahatma Gandhi. When his grandson Arun threw away a small stub of a pencil on his way home from school, thinking he’d get a new one, Gandhi made him walk the path with a lantern at night to find it. He explained that discarding anything that is still usable is a form of violence against nature. I know my mom would agree. Once, as we left a cheap hotel in Mexico, she made her famous tour of “one last check,” and found the decongestants I had left for the maid, being over my cold. When I explained this, her reply was “How do you think your father and I retired in our 50s?” Maybe I’ll go back over the list, in honor of my mother’s loving and sensible example.
