So my father-in-law is 92 and thinks I make the best shepherd's pie in town. He's not wrong. It takes a lot of time, however, so I don't make it very often. This Sunday I made the effort. I cut the carrots and the onions, browned the lamb, added the spices, and had the potatoes just waiting to be mashed. When I walked across the room to the drawer where the masher was, I heard a huge crash. The glass top of a casserole dish had somehow fallen from the second shelf in the cabinet, bounced off the counter where the finished casserole sat, and landed on the floor exactly where I had been standing 10 seconds earlier. A tiny piece of the glass top chipped off. But it was Corningware, and for those of you in the know, the results weren't pretty. There was glass EVERYWHERE. On the floor, on the counter, in the sink, under the fridge, and...oh yes...IN the casserole and the potatoes.
My reaction for the first 15 seconds was a string of non-Mary-like language, but by the time I got to second 30 I turned to my husband and my father-in-law and said, "Well, I guess we're going out for pizza." Remembering to thank my Guardian Angel for not getting a broken foot or a cut from the glass, and actually realizing that we were lucky we could go out for a pizza, off we set.
The revelation for me was that I didn't nurse it, didn't sulk, didn't let it ruin my day, and I really would have expected this to be my reaction because patience isn't one of the gifts God gave me. There are a lot of surprising things going on in my head since I've retired. If half of my daily "To Do" list gets addressed, that's enough for me. If plans get cancelled I just take an extra nap on the couch. And if people have different beliefs, political or otherwise, I let them. That's a biggie.
My latest purchase was a flagpole to attach to the wrought iron railing on our front porch. I change the flag once a week, alternating the Pride flag, the Black Lives Matter flag, and the American flag. Turns out liberals are still citizens, which felt uncertain for a while. There are no lectures, no eggs thrown at the house, and if anyone has problems with my choices they haven't voiced them. Neither do I feel a constant need to argue anymore. Standing up for what is important to me, quietly, seems like a much better thing to do than giving myself an ulcer over debating with people who don't want to hear it. It's important to me, however, to state my support for some people who don't seem to get a lot of it in my neighborhood or, for that matter, in the world in general.
So I'm either calming down as I age, acquiring wisdom, or just getting tired and running out of steam. Whatever the cause, the result is a lot easier to live with. At least for now.
My reaction for the first 15 seconds was a string of non-Mary-like language, but by the time I got to second 30 I turned to my husband and my father-in-law and said, "Well, I guess we're going out for pizza." Remembering to thank my Guardian Angel for not getting a broken foot or a cut from the glass, and actually realizing that we were lucky we could go out for a pizza, off we set.
The revelation for me was that I didn't nurse it, didn't sulk, didn't let it ruin my day, and I really would have expected this to be my reaction because patience isn't one of the gifts God gave me. There are a lot of surprising things going on in my head since I've retired. If half of my daily "To Do" list gets addressed, that's enough for me. If plans get cancelled I just take an extra nap on the couch. And if people have different beliefs, political or otherwise, I let them. That's a biggie.
My latest purchase was a flagpole to attach to the wrought iron railing on our front porch. I change the flag once a week, alternating the Pride flag, the Black Lives Matter flag, and the American flag. Turns out liberals are still citizens, which felt uncertain for a while. There are no lectures, no eggs thrown at the house, and if anyone has problems with my choices they haven't voiced them. Neither do I feel a constant need to argue anymore. Standing up for what is important to me, quietly, seems like a much better thing to do than giving myself an ulcer over debating with people who don't want to hear it. It's important to me, however, to state my support for some people who don't seem to get a lot of it in my neighborhood or, for that matter, in the world in general.
So I'm either calming down as I age, acquiring wisdom, or just getting tired and running out of steam. Whatever the cause, the result is a lot easier to live with. At least for now.
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