Today seems as good a day as any to write a few scribblings down for the sake of the blog within me. It is not for lack of stuff to talk about or think about that prevents me from blogging every day or even more often than that.
What prevents me from writing is sheer volume of content and willingness to lay it all out and sort through it.
It is kind of like why I do not recycle. I have lots of various types of trash to reuse. I have envelopes and cardboard from old boxes that once I was saving for a 'souvenir' , like those old Wheaties boxes I just pitched out last week. They could be recycled. I have old spaghetti jars saved, because there is a cute little measuring guide on the side of the jar and who knows? sometime I may need to measure something, be out of a measuring cup and need to use the inside of an old jar. OK I should get rid of that too. I have cans galore because I used to make things from scratch and feel so worthy , noble and domestic, until I noticed nobody could tell the difference between beans from a can and beans from a bag filled with pebbles that may crack your aging teeth. So now I just buy the cheap canned black beans in the Latino section because somehow they are cheaper there. Go figure that one. I have egg shells and potato peels that technically could go into my compost pile if I had one, but I don't have one because I have a dog(remember Perfect?) and she will dig up any compost pile I try to maintain as an act of spite. Plus I have a pile of rubbish already piling high that is covering up a sink hole in my back yard. Oh my, that is just another day's blog.
See what I mean? The volume of content is often enormous, but the desire to process it all, now that is amazingly minuscule.
Furthermore, can you even believe that was my introduction? Holy Cow, c-o-w as Ethan would spell.
Well, to help myself along, I already called this Blog the First day of Spring, thinking that by labeling First , rather than Last as I usually do, it would help me define my goals.[ Did not work, make note to self.]
One of the interesting parts of going from full speed ahead large family mode to empty nest mode, is that suddenly there are choices to be made. I used to just do whatever was necessary for the good of the family. I used every opportunity to instruct and interact with my 7 children on a daily basis, if not hourly. There were schooling decisions and educational goals (I home schooled some of them, some of the time), there were meals to prepare and grocery bargains to be discovered. Laundry piles often exceeded the height of the washing machine. Gardening was minimal and yard work on a need-to-do relationship.Shopping meant finding a yard sale, goodwill store or hand-me-down pile to sort through.
For the most part, all of those daily activities have ceased and are being replaced one by one. Choices are needed rather than obligations being done blindly. I putter in the garden and try to keep up with my very energetic and enthusiastic about her yard neighbor, Luba. Just today she came outside to tell me that it was time to get the free mulch at the local park and did I need to use her pitchfork and bags? I mumbled something about "maybe next weekend" and in exactly 3.5 minutes she had returned thrusting the black bags into my arms for 'when I was ready.' The grocery store is no longer my best friend, but has dropped on the list to at least 10Th place and is right below the Goodwill store in places I enjoy going. I definitely spend as little time as possible in either place.
Another choice I have now is how to spend my time off work. I am actually given time off, when the school closes for various things like Spring break, or Teacher In Service Days or Summer. Right now we are on Spring Break and I had choices to make which nearly threw me into total meltdown mode. Should I fly to my daughter's home in New Mexico or drive to my son's home in North Carolina? Maybe I could take a train to my friend's home in Florida? perhaps reconnecting with family in Indiana or Tennessee was a good idea, maybe staying home and babysitting grandchildren should be my priority. Good grief, why don't I just garden and make Luba happy? Do lots of choices in life make a person happier, more content, free as a bird? I might just place all of these choices on top of my own personal sink hole and cover the problem up.
The reason I sat down to blog in the first place was because I had free time and could not decide whether to pick up the book by Fannie Flagg I am reading and just bury myself in it's story, or if I should have a cup of coffee, alone, or if I should go look for a sale and spend money I don't have on something I don't need. I also have talked to all the people of Facebook that I could possibly talk to in one hour, so my conclusion was to sort my thoughts out here.
There is always that one last idea ruminating around in the back of my crowded mind.
Today, the First Day of Spring, Rita's water ice locations throughout the East Coast all have an annual promotion that I am madly in love with. They celebrate Spring by giving everyone a free cup of Italian Water Ice. FREE. NO strings attached free, as in better than Goodwill free. I think that is a good choice for the first day of spring, 5th day of my Spring break, don't you?
