By JANET HART LEONARD
From the Hart
Joy does not always arrive in the long-awaited moments which have been planned and designed, but in the brisk, out-of-the-blue moments of ordinary days. Embrace the glitter of those ordinary days.
Take a look at my hourglass. Most of the sand is at the bottom. I focus on the top. I want that remaining sand to glitter and sparkle.
Perhaps as I enter the early winter of my life, I take more time to realize the preciousness of finding joy in the mundane moments.
I take that first sip of coffee early in the morning. It’s as if my taste buds are cheering for more. How can black coffee be so sweet? I ponder the plans for my day. Oh, how I embrace the days where there is nothing on my agenda.
I take a walk and hear the laughter of the kids playing on the playground at the elementary school across from our little house on the alley. I hear a few of them yell, “Hi lady!” I stop and wave as they run off to a new adventure on the playground where I had a few adventures of my own, some 50 years ago. I remember and I smile. I’m still friends with Kathy and Susan and Marcia and Joanie and Kathy and Tamara and John and Rick and Jan and Denise. We shared a lot on that playground. I embrace the memories.
I sit on a bench on the courthouse square and a thought comes to my mind. That thought makes me smile. My mother would drive uptown and park in front of Murphy’s or Penney’s on the courthouse square. We would watch the people as they meandered in and out of the shops. It was her cure for my being bored. Funny how I still love people-watching. I’ve pretty much grown out of ever being bored.
I hear the song to which Chuck and I danced at our wedding reception. I cross my heart and promise to give all I’ve got to give to make all your dreams come true. In all the world, you’ll never find a love as true as mine. My heart remembers and it tips over my comfort and joy bucket. Dreams really do come true.
My grandson, 11-year-old Aiden, walks off the baseball field and gives me a hug in front of his friends. That hug hits a home run with this grandma. He says, “Thanks for coming to my game.” Wouldn’t miss those moments for the world.
When the heart is hugged, the moments are recorded in your memory bank. You cannot put a value on them. They are priceless. Forget about seizing the day. Seize the moment!
A moment does not have to have confetti or cake or ice cream to be celebrated. The heart knows.
I can get so bogged down in the daily barrage of bad news and depressing forecasts that I find myself dreading the next possible bad thing that just might happen … or not.
I refuse to soak in the negative when I can bask in the delights of ordinary days with joy-filled moments.
I take a bubble bath with Dr. Teal’s Foaming Sleep Bath. I watch Netflix on my computer while I soak in the tub. I buy a new pair of pajamas, bargain-priced ones at Marshalls. New pajamas make me happy.
I start a new book recommended to me. I get to page 50, and I realize I am already embracing the main character as a friend. By page 100, I am right there in the story living next door to her. By the final chapter, I am sad for the story to be ending. My friend is going away. I want more time with her, more chapters. It actually feels good to be sad when a book ends. I love a good book. I have no guilt in taking time to read, though – I love calling it a guilty pleasure.
I order dessert to go and divide it in half and share the sweetness with my husband. We sit and watch a ballgame by candlelight. He holds the remote. IU is playing. Butler is playing. Purdue is playing. His thumb is getting a workout as he goes from game to game to game. We laugh. It’s an ordinary moment but we find laughter and joy … unless our team is losing, then it’s aggravation and groaning.
These are the moments I live for. My heart knows them well. My heart has inner confetti. I’ll never waste my life pondering the miseries of the day when I can grab the delight of ordinary moments.
Love and laughter will fill my hourglass in my remaining years. On that day when the last of my glittery sand trinkles to the bottom, I want people to say … she found joy and she wasn’t afraid to share it!