CHEERY AND BLEARY (THANKS TO THE CUBS!!)

I had a very good day yesterday. 
Very normal events.
Here's what made the difference:
(So easy-peasy it's kind of embarrassing)

I was clear about my priorities
I set and met my goals.
Simple. I wish.

And that, dear readers, is what it takes to make me happy.
I have an inordinate sensitivity to time passing based on the close-up seat I had to a shocking tragic death of a family when I was 12 years old. I learned to savor life very early and to not 'waste' time with mindlessness. I kept mementos 
and journals with a vengeance and still do.

 (I put a bite of hamburger in a scrap book because a boy I liked had left it on his plate! Hey, I wrapped it in wax paper!!) And I still have the handkerchief of a boyfriend who first kissed me at a dance and then gave me his handkerchief to wipe off lipstick. Such wonderful innocence)

I'm not talking about grand choices. I'm talking about the relief of using time
exactly at you want.

I woke up and read New York Times Book Review in bed with coffee
I had time and silence alone in the house with no phones on.
I did my kind of prayer and wrote a few reflections.
I grocery shopped with a menu in mind with family for dinner
I cooked a great lamb and lentil stew--first Fall soup!!
Family came over and I played with a nine year old, a four year old and a three year old. My peers! We smeared the yard with spider web globs.
Pumpkins were carved.
Kids gone. Husband writing on third floor. I watched the Cubs game and did clean-up during the ads. They hung on to a win around midnight. 
Took the roasted pumpkin seeds out of the oven, munched a few and went to bed.


I knew my priority for the day (which involved saying a clear'no' to many other things.) My idea of hell is doing one thing while wanting to do something else or having a vague nag sitting on my shoulder.
 So---
I knew my priorities
I set my goals. 
I lived them.
Day by day that makes a very good life.