Welcome back to SOLO at SIXTY!
Happy 4th of July! Hope y’all are celebrating with loved ones, a cookout, and fireworks. That is how I am celebrating. My older daughter and her husband came to town last night to help his Grandpa get ready for the BIG cookout. Y’all, my son-in-law’s Grandpa has more friends than anyone I know! And they all get together for the 4th at his house. Oh and family too. Luckily, I get included as do my kids. This party has been going on for years – his house is close to the Charlottesville fireworks so you can sit in his backyard and watch them, which we do AFTER my son-in-law puts on HIS fireworks show (which is pretty darn good!). Of course he had to buy those fireworks at the beach since you can’t get real fireworks here.
“May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.” Peter Marshall
I sat down to write my blog this week and drew a blank. Writer’s block. Normally I have thoughts and ideas and have written something by Sunday night. But this past week and weekend were very busy at work, getting ready for month end. Worked a lot and worked late. However, I made time for those early morning runs (always a priority) and an early morning trip to our club in Short Pump for my older daughter’s 6:30 am cycle class Thursday morning. Started my day off great! Worked this weekend (as did some of my sweet teammates) to get everything in order for financials to come out today (the 4th!). Now I can escape to the beach tomorrow morning early! But I had no time to think about the blog.
“If it’s important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.”
Over the weekend, my younger daughter asked if I could help her. She had just had an overwhelming week. Long hours and late nights working on a project for work. Plus had worked both weekend days for several weeks. I knew it had been rough – she was totally taken out of her routine. I told her to remember that it was just a few days – start over and get back on plan. She did. Sunday before going to work at the vineyard (where she works a couple of weekends a month), she made time to actually make her bed and sit down for breakfast. Seems simple, but it worked. New day, new week, new month, new girl. Time to reset. She also asked if I could come over and help her clean her house. Nothing had been touched and she just could not face it alone. She was mad at herself for letting it get so out of control and did not know where to start. Of course I will help you! And I did. It was fun and we conquered her house. Deep cleaned side by side. Therapeutic. Overwhelming for one person, but manageable when someone helps. There is nothing wrong with asking for help. It is brave. Same way I felt on moving day to my new house. Called my older sister, said I was moving to the new house alone and she immediately came up. Told me later she knew how overwhelming it would be moving, made so much harder by my discovery of having to do it SOLO. She was right. So right. And with her help, I was unpacked and settled in before she left.
“A person has two hands, one for helping himself, the other for helping others.”
I have now been in my new house for over 2 years and need to go through some boxes in the basement and my storage room. And need to clean out drawers and closets. But, like my younger daughter, it is a bit overwhelming. Doesn’t have to be done immediately. My younger daughter and I talked about this and decided we would ask the Master Purger, my older daughter, to help both of us with some purging and organizing. She is by far the Master. She made her now husband purge about a 100 t-shirts he had owned since middle school, Even if they still fit. But she did let him keep all of the Carolina t-shirts! She helped me pare down my clothes to the point of getting them all in 1 closet – all seasons. Do you like it? Love it? Have you worn it this year? No? Then it is gone! Now there are many things I will NOT let her purge – I have all of my kids’ writings from kindergarten through high school. And many special “memtoes”. But I also have a lot that needs to leave my house, and the Master Purger will help. We keep saying we’ll do it the first rainy weekend that I am in town but haven’t had one yet. I keep dodging those rainy weekends with sunny ones at the beach!
“Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.” Danny Thomas
I did not spend my whole weekend working and “cleaning”. Saturday night I celebrated the upcoming marriage of one of my “old cul-de-sac” kids at a local vineyard. This will be #5 of the neighborhood kids to get married. Kids that I watched grow up for the last 21 years. It was a wonderful night filled with “old” friends and neighbors. Catching up. Making plans to get together again soon. And celebrating young love.
Celebrate the 4th. Celebrate your life. Be bold, be brave, be bright. Help others whenever you can, because as we all know, none of us is promised tomorrow.
“Laughter is the fireworks of the soul.”
Best,
Leslie
PS – It is so hot up here, but the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel is showing non-stop Christmas movies for 2 weeks! Enjoy!
SOLO at SIXTY 