Stuff That Matters in Life

First day of school for me this year was different…I had to take only one child to school.

When school started with Elliot as a Kindergartener, Audrey had to come with us to drop him off. So there’s always been at least 2 kids to get ready for school. For several years, there were 3 to take to different schools with different schedules.

With Elliot and Audrey both over 18 now, I will be having a much more relaxed school year. I only have to wake Amy up for school, only one lunch to prepare, one person to pick up after school, one person to help with homework, one set of parent permission forms to sign, one Back-To-School night to attend.

For the first time, I am not lamenting about my children growing up and out. Life is easier for me.

But I think I am enjoying my easier life is little too much.At our annual back-to-school breakfast with my girl friends, the time went by quickly as we chatted for 2 1/2 hours. Lo and behold, I lost track of time. I did not make it to school to pick up Amy as I told her I would. She walked home and beat me to it.

Having only one minor to take care of has its own challenges.

The exit door of one place is an entrance to somewhere else.

This gives me hope and optimism.

Amy and I, since we have all the time in the world with 1 week left of summer vacation, worked together on one of those activity sheets. The paper starts out with a page covered with random small shapes. We are to color in the spaces that has a dot in it, and do not color in the spaces without a dot. After it’s all done, it’s suppose to be a recognizable picture.

When half of the coloring was done, I thought the picture was a a lady in a traditional Chinese long flowing gown. Amy said it was a lady in a dress wearing a hat with a flower. We both agreed her shoes looked weird.

When most of the dots were colored in, I still couldn’t figure out what the picture was suppose to be. It was when Amy held it up a couple of feet away that I saw the entire picture.

Isn’t that a good analogy about life? Up close, we cannot make sense of the various events happening in our lives. But one day, we will look at the completed picture, and see that each piece served a purpose.

Another parallel I draw here is this. Amy and I spent a chunk of time coloring in little spaces meticulously. What do we do with the picture afterwards? It went in the trash.

So it is with life….

Ok, that’s not very encouraging. Nevermind…

Why are some people just so unhappy? Sure, there are times when circumstances are against us and makes us unhappy. But some people have a general “unhappiness” about them.

I think here are some reasons why:

They pine for what could be instead of seeing their present circumstances as a gift.

They gloss over small victories and mourn over not having huge successes.

They focus on their bad circumstances and forget to be thankful for the good people around them who are there to support them.

They do not have any long term investment in people so that they can have the joy of seeing them grow.

They are too preoccupied with themselves.

They don’t use their imagination.

This is what the little Tercel looks like now, after the accident.

She served us well! We will miss getting 35 miles per gallon on this little car.