Sweeping Up the Bits

People are so funny.

I'm taking a week for some vacation time and have been working to sweep together any loose bits that need to be addressed before I go. Thought I had that finished this afternoon after a phone meeting with another pastor to talk about combining our Confirmation programs this year since we both have low numbers of students. It happens every now and then, especially after some of the larger classes, which we both are confirming this year. 

Set up my email away message and sat down to watch a couple of episodes of Downton Abbey. They've been showing them on Sunday afternoons for the last couple of months. We just tied up season 5 today. 

I had a date with a book late in the afternoon and lay down on my bed to read. Slept instead. Looks like the crash hit me sooner than I expected. I'd wanted to read in the afternoon because I'm reading Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby, and I suspect pre-bedtime reading is ill advised.  

Checked my email at 9:30 this evening for anything that needed my attention before I go offline for a week and a few days, and there was a big request accompanied by the hope that my actual vacation doesn't begin until midnight tonight.

People are so funny.

Looks like her wish came true. I handled the request, got things set up via email, copied everyone who needed to be copied, forwarded the things than needed to be forwarded, and added a little note to the person who sent the email that I trust that this will address this.

It did. I just heard a ping from my email service and it was her thank you. 10:10 and vacation begins. As soon as I power down the laptop and drink a glass of spring water with the intention to allow work to flow away for a time and allow relaxation to flow through me. 

I notice there are two more days to this summer writing practice. How extraordinary that 100 days of happiness will have passed through my consciousness. Happiness does not look the same in every moment, but in every moment, no matter what else is going on we can cultivate happiness as we remember how fortunate we are and that a single challenging moment does not contain the whole of our experience. I remain grateful for meaningful work, interests that expand me, family and friendships that fill my life with love and connection, and financial abundance that enables me to live well materially. That's the big picture. What flows through all that are like branches, or tree limbs, that are carried by the river.

A Hundred Days of Happiness is a daily writing practice that opens a landscape of discovery into my own human experience. 

Katherine Cartwright has been blogging since 2012, and each year brings new wonders. She asks big questions of the small things in life..