We are well
now, and in process of reclaiming the house.
By "reclaiming the house," I mean making it livable and
enjoyable again, not just survivable.
Rooms have been straightened, mountains of laundry folded, kitchen and
bathrooms cleaned, trash thrown out, and meals cooked.
As we were
doing all of this, I placed a tablecloth on the table. And I realized what a difference a tablecloth
makes. Similar to a made bed in a
bedroom, a tablecloth makes the whole kitchen/dining/living area look so much
more polished. (Our kitchen and breakfast
nook flow into the living room without doors or a full wall.)
As is the
case with me, these become object lessons.
A tablecloth is such a small thing, a detail really. It's a ten-second or less task that often
gets overlooked. But it finishes the
look, adds just that bit of polish to an otherwise "acceptable" area.
The object
lesson part? Life is like that for
me. There's often one oh-so-small detail
I COULD add that would make a world of difference, either to me or to someone
else. It's often something added at the
end. The smile when you say please or
thank you, eye contact as you pay for your purchases, calling the waiter or
waitress by name in a restaurant, and thanking them verbally when they serve
you. These are all ten-second-or-less
tasks that don't actually require any extra from me, and make such a huge
difference in my outlook. Others include
putting down what I am doing when my husband gets home and welcoming him
cheerfully, looking my children in the eye when they talk to me instead of
absently nodding and saying "mmhmmm", accepting their
"help" (even from the littlest one) when I could do it so much faster
alone.
These are
the "details" of life that add up.
None are difficult, none require much time or energy. None will change the world, either, just make
it a more pleasant place to live for a few minutes.
Of course,
as with all object lessons, the hard part is in the doing!
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