Reality Check

 The storehouse was busy today.  We were down quite a few people again, though a couple answered the call to come help spur-of-the-moment.  That meant instead of my usual stock and shop roughly 50-50 percent of the time, the majority of my time was spent doing orders. 

One man had two of his daughters with him.  Both 7 - one turning 8 next week (yup, one of them was adopted).  High energy would have been an understated description of them.  At one point, one of the girls was hanging onto the side of the cart (yikes, that made it yard to push) and her sister told her to stop it "that old lady doesn't want you to do that!"  I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry.  I think I did both: kind of laughed/giggled on the outside and cried a few tears on the inside.

The Husband is forever assuring me I don't look my 73 years of age.  Apparently he is too kind.  And I do look my age.  Generally I'm pretty ok with that.  There's nothing to be ashamed of when you look your age and have lived a decent life.  All those years of learning, growing, struggling, enjoying - pretty much actually living - are bound to show up on you.  The wrinkles and gray hair are evidence of all those experiences.  It just was a bit of a shock to have a stranger point out that I am, indeed, old. 

Old I may be, but I can still enjoy life which I aim to do every single morning when I wake up. 

We had a month, I think, without either the air or the furnace.  That's my goal every single year.  At least one month in the spring and one in the fall when there's no cooling or heating of the house.   It was down to 34 degrees outside last night and got down to 63 degrees in the house.  So, yeah, time to turn things on and make sure the heat works.  So far, so good.  Fingers are crossed that we can make it through one more winter.  

But it turned out to be a beautiful day - sunny and just the right temp to be outside with a sweater on.  The mums are finally blooming, but the plants are so old and leggy with woody stems they just don't stand up and look as beautiful as they used to.  Once the blooms are spent we'll be pulling them out and figure something else for that little garden spot.  In the meantime I love the yellow flowers.  😊 

Today I'm grateful for being able to serve.  The most I have to offer is a willing heart.  But often that seems to be enough.