The Sunny Side

Life has continued on, and here I am once again to write about the small notions that run through my mind. I do a lot of thinking, but sometimes I wish my mind wouldn't run so freely. Ahhhh, to be oblivious and ignorant to the cares of the world. I suppose some people have that. But I think once you have passed a certain level of knowledge, you can never go back to that blissful ignorance. Such is life.

I have been thinking a lot lately about a quote that I like from Romeo and Juliet. I like Shakespeare when I can understand his old English. Here is the quote for your reading pleasure:

Thy Juliet is alive,
For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead.
There art thou happy. Tybalt would kill thee,
But thou slewest Tybalt. There are thou happy too.
The law, that threat'ned death, becomes thy friend
And turns it to exile. There art thou happy.
A pack of blessings light upon thy back;
Happiness courts thee in her best array;
But, like a misbehaved and sullen wench,
Thou pout'st upon thy fortune and thy love.
Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.

This quote is from when the Priest is talking to Romeo about all the good things in his life that he has to be happy about. Yet Romeo can only cry and whine about all the bad things that have happened to him.

I like this quote because it seems so relevant to modern life. So many times I hear people complaining about all the bad in their lives, when in reality they have "a pack of blessings" on their backs. When your car breaks down, you think of the bad luck, the cost, the annoyance of not being able to get around, and the wasted time it will take to fix. But do you think of the fact that you have a car in the first place? Are you grateful that there are people who have the knowledge and skill to fix your car? Do you appreciate family and friends who are willing to give you rides? Do you think about the fact that you have enough money to pay for the repairs, even if you have to scrape to get it? All these things are your blessings that get easily overshadowed by the misfortune.

The Priest's warning at the end makes the quote especially meaningful. "Take heed, for such die miserable." If we are always blind to our blessings, we will always be miserable indeed. So when bad things happen to you, why not take the time to see your pack of blessings? It may only be looking at a bad situation in a different light, but you will surely be a happier person for it.

Worry Wart

Well, my passwords haven't been stolen for a little while, so here's hoping that they gave up on tormenting me. Now I can continue to worry about what I usually worry about - Everything! Just kidding.....sort of. I do have a tendency to worry a lot, so I have to make a conscious effort not to. Usually I do pretty good at it.

Right now the thing that causes me the most worry is the gigantic amount of snow we have been getting. I seriously don't know how people survive in places like Alaska. We get a couple of feet of snow and I start worrying that our cars will get stuck, or break down, or smashed in an accident. I worry that the heater in my house will stop working or that we will get so much snow that I can't get into my own driveway. That last one is a major possibility because our driveway is gravel, so we can't use a snow blower unless we want to be shooting rocks at our neighbors. There is no earthy way I could keep up with shoveling it. I did a small section just tonight and I already feel like my arms are going to fall off.

There is also the very real possibility that Mike and I could become sick and not be able to shovel or do much of anything else. Our workplace seems to be a breeding ground for all kinds of nasty sicknesses. In the past few weeks, more people have called out sick than I can count on my hands. Even as I write this, I feel I am fighting off a multitude of sicknesses that all those people brought back to work with them. I'm not officially sick yet, so I hope I can just sleep it off. (Also, I have been eating those Airborne anti-cold tablets like there is no tomorrow.)

But there will be a tomorrow, in spite of all my worrying. So I better lay my worries to rest. If the cars break down, we will work something out. If it snows more and more, someone is bound to help shovel our driveway. If our heater breaks, we will use coats and blankets until we can get it fixed. If I get sick, I will recover. (Besides, nothing can be as bad as that one year where I was sick for almost the entire winter.)

I think it is time to banish my worries for the night, take a shower, and snuggle in bed with a good book. Awwwww yeah, isn't this the life?