The calm after the storm

Someone was a little bitter when she left the coffee shop earlier this afternoon. I guess someone had to have her little temper tantrum for all of the world wide web to see. Someone apologizes for her immature whiny behavior (see, someone did go up to that brewery and have a beer made with jasmine--it tastes so wonderfully like spring--and she returned home a much happier little notetaker).

I got the perspective I was looking for, not from the jasmine infused beer, but from a conversation with one of my grandmas. I called to wish her a happy mother's day and we got to talking about life and the goings on in our worlds. Grandma talked about how she and grandpa are getting ready to drive the motor home (and when I say motor home, I mean luxurious tour bus) from their winter home in Arizona back to the home that's full of so many of my wonderful childhood memories in Cheyenne, Wyoming (yip yip yaaaw! I've got myself some ranchin' country roots).

I was regaling her with gripping tales of the kitchen remodel. I had to make them gripping, because I don't have anything for when the questions inevitably devolve into the dating department. But we didn't even go there tonight. Tonight we just talked about what I was doing with my life and she reminisced about when she and grandpa were first married how they built two apartments into their home so they could take on renters to help cover the mortgage. She talked about how they would both work all day long and then come home grab a quick bite to eat and then head on down to do all the work themselves, often until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. That sounds so familiar.

And you know what, I bet she and grandpa had their own challenges--fixtures not fitting, tools not cooperating, things not being "just so"--but those aren't the memories she described. She remembered how much she learned building something by hand and the satisfaction they both had when all was said and done.

My lens was so zoomed in on each vignette in which I found myself this afternoon, that I lost focus of the big picture. What am I learning here and how great will it be when it's completed and I can say that I did that? And when I finally took that step back tonight, even though I didn't want to do it earlier this afternoon, everything magically came together. The light, it was installed; the last patch of grass, it was mowed; the work, enough was completed that I can go to bed with a clear conscience.

Note to self: Like you haven't heard this one before, but it obviously bears repeating--don't sweat the small stuff... and it's all small stuff!

And as a little treat to myself, to celebrate the fact that I persisted and didn't completely throw in the towel, I washed my sheets today, and we all know what that means.