It’s such a bummer when, on a normal day when you have nothing else planned, you get a phone call from your daughter asking if you can babysit your granddaughter for an hour or two and you of course say yes then proceed to spend that babysitting time just cuddling and listening to her coo and giggle. My day was a bummer.
It’s such a drag when a friend from out of town calls unexpectedly telling you they are in town and want to have lunch in an hour and you have to quit folding laundry to go and meet the friend and have a nice lunch with them catching up and sharing some laughs. Today was a major drag.
It’s such drudgery when you have a big grocery list and you have to go to the store and fill your cart with food and other goodies and it’s such a hassle to pack it all up, bring it home and then put it all away because that is time-consuming and time is money baby and at the end of it all you don’t even really think about the fact that you were able to pay for food for your family for the entire week without going into debt or scrimping on something. Today was filled with drudgery and hassles. It’s bothersome and downright exasperating when, in the middle of the night, the dog or cat or maybe both want to cuddle with you and they take up space and their fur gets in your face and one of them even snores, but they love you so you make room and indulge in snuggling. Last night was bothersome and downright exasperating.
It’s such a pain, early in the morning, when you half-wake up and want to go back to that great dream you were having but you peek at the clock and it’s just about time for the alarm to go off and you are still tired and don’t want to start your day. Then you remember it’s Saturday and you don’t have to get up and you can sleep in for another hour or two and you pull up the covers and go right back to that dream. Last Saturday morning was a pain.
It’s irksome when the day is short but activities are long and you have to hop from one thing to the next because you are pulled in at least two different directions and you have to leave one game early to make it to the last half of another. You realize these days are fleeting and there will come a time when you have an entire unencumbered day and you will look back and remember these busy times with fondness. It’s easy to fret about a particular situation. But when I convince myself to take the blinders off, the big picture comes into view. I see the scope of it all and realization is like a warm blanket unfolding over me. There is much to fret about. But there is much, much more to not fret about. I choose door number two.
— Jill Pertler’s column usually appears Wednesdays in the Times.
