Sometimes You Just Have to Stop and Enjoy What You Have

You would be amazed if you could see my workstation this morning. I am sitting on a bench at Stearn’s Park in Ludington, Michigan. The lake is very calm this morning. The pier with that beautiful lighthouse at the end is all within my view. And here I am, with my Chromebook on my lap, typing away.

I stopped at the bookstore in town and bought myself a chai tea. This is such a beautiful spring morning. Coming here is my reward for all my hard work this past week.

Allow me to acknowledge for myself all that I have accomplished. I will lightly tap on the asthma/allergy effect all this has had on me. And, I think, it is the asthma that has caused me to stop and enjoy what I have here in Ludington. And what do I enjoy most besides my family? It’s this beach and this view. So, here I am.

What did I do that allowed me to stop and enjoy this?

A few weeks ago I was feeling overwhelmed with all the spring cleaning projects I had to do. I guess I should say I did not HAVE to do them. I WANTED to do them. Because it feels so good when you get certain projects done so you can enjoy your home more.

I started inside. With all the windows open, and a fresh breeze wafting through the house, I started in my son’s bedroom. I tore down the bunkbed he never used and replaced it with a regular twin bed. I washed all the bed linen as I picked up the toys he no longer uses and sorted them out. This job took several hours and exposed me to some dust mites.

Of course, now I have to decide what to do with them. For now, I have them in bins in my garage. And they are pretty cool toys, too. I have lots of Nerf guns, big and small. I also have a vest for carrying extra Nerf bullets. And there’s a remote control dinosaur, some remote control cars, and even a giant yellow transformer.

And then we had a nice warm day for doing outside work. I went with a friend to the store and bought some mulch. We then went to my aunt’s greenhouse and picked up some petunias called Summer Madness. Those flowers make my front yard look sharp.

I got the shovel out and dug up the weeds from the various gardens around the yard. I got the blower and rakes out and took care of the leftover leaves. Yes! This did expose me to some dust and perhaps some mold.

I got some mulch and filled in the gardens. This year I decided on brown mulch, as my friend said this would make the flowers I got stand out more. And, with the help of my friend, I spread the mulch. And, I agree with my friend: Brown mulch does make the flowers stand out more.

I sneezed and coughed while at the tail end of this task, but I continued until the job was done. Boy was I hurting by the end of this day. It felt like every muscle in my body, including those in my fingers, was aching. Alas, even the muscles wrapped around my lungs seemed to ache.

Once the outside was done, we went to the local brewpub and downed a few beers. This was the first reward for all this hard work. This capped a glorious end to a busy day.

My work was not done yet

The next day I was once again alone. I started this time in the basement. I dreaded starting this project because I had no idea what I was going to do down there. I ended up moving all the recliners, the speakers, the film projector, and the projector screen. I moved out some old rickety chairs that I have no idea why I kept so long, and I threw them in the garage. I filled boxes with junk and tossed them into the garage as well.

I swept, exposing myself to some dust. I vacuumed the rug. Gosh, it was sure looking sharp down there. Finally, after months of clutter and confusion, the basement now looks like a nice room. A friend came over to help me replace a broken water spigot. And he quipped about how nice my house and basement looked. He said he was impressed. He even complimented me on my flowers.

Somewhere in the past few days, I found time to cut the grass. This was probably not a good idea considering my nose was running and my chest was mildly tight. But I did it anyway because I was in the mood.

My asthma reminds me to stop and enjoy what I have!

There is still work to do in the basement and the yard. But, it’s all mop-up stuff. My daughter said she would come over in a few days to polish up the basement.

So, that leaves one more HUGE job: the garage. Yes! All that stuff I tossed into the garage has made it so I cannot even walk through it. But, being nice to my body and lungs, I have decided to save this job for later.

And that leads me to here, as I sit here, enjoying my latest workstation. If I did not have asthma, I would probably be tackling the garage today. Sometimes my asthma, I think, is a gift: It forces me to take time out and enjoy what I have.