Ahhhh.....

For the first time in I don't know when, I feel like I had a day off yesterday. I still had to go in and do the bookwork for the salon, but I was finished by 10:30, ran to the bank, dropped off something to someone, and made it to my massage appointment by 11. I had to cool my heels a bit (unusual) while we waited for a room to become available. Heaven. I read a magazine. My mind wandered during my massage. Floated might be a better word. After that, I went straight home having no other errands to run. The home front was relaxed. My girl was watching a video, hubby was on the computer. I went and soaked in a hot bath scented with lavender and lime and read a book. I was in there so long, hubby came in to make sure I hadn't fallen asleep! Nope, just reading and reading. Later, we took our girl to the park. It is lovely weather for the park! She had such a good time, she didn't want to go and loudly let it be known as we were leaving. Then we stopped by a Japanese restaurant for a bite, I had sushi and edamame, YUM. Then, off to the grocery for a few "necessities". Like chubby hubby ice cream. Yeah.

I'm reading a book by Joan Anderson called A Year by the Sea. I can identify with some of the things she talks about. Essentially, she left her husband to go live by the sea for awhile to find her true self. The one that got buried under loving wife and supportive mother. He was going to a new job in another state and they had sold the house, the kids were grown and it seem to be a good time for her to take the plunge. Not sure I would do something so drastic, but I can understand her motives. It is interesting reading her diary of sorts that recount that year.

One passage in the book speaks of remembering an interchange with a friend who trained monks in ritualization. "'When they started Communion,' she explained, 'they would pick up the chalice without giving it any thought, purely an object to be used, not treated as holy. What they needed to learn was the importance of developing a relationship with liturgical things and become involved with them. Only then would the ceremony have meaning.' (side note-interesting to me, I have a relationship with the Saviour those liturgical things stand for and therefore they have meaning to me. The ceremony of communion means a great deal to me. Interesting that they would have to teach that...now back to quoting the book)"Listening to her, I couldn't help but imagine what my world might be like if I looked at the human beings I was closest to as holy and treated them with that same sense of respect."
Treat those you are closest to as holy...I was just asking a newly married client this week why it is that we so badly treat the ones we say we love the most ? We would never speak as unkindly to clients, friends, or neighbors as we speak to our husbands, wives or children! We always keep our kind, mannerly face on in public but at home, we feel safe to voice our bad mood even if no one really did anything to induce our ire. How many times have you said, "I'm sorry, I'm just in a bad mood." As if that gives us license to drop all manner of kindness and consideration. Something to ponder.