After I got over my initial shock and anger over our income cut, I did something that may not sound like someone who's just been dealt a financial blow. You may envision us sitting around in the dark, eating a small bowl of gruel, with faces stained with tears and sadness. The actuality is, we sat around with cake and my finest tea, in the beautiful sunshine on the deck.
You see, in my mind, there is always so much to celebrate. We are all healthy. We are here together as a family. We have many joyous occasions to look forward to. And we're living in one of the riches times in history of the world, and in one of the wealthiest countries, to boot.
Sure, there's a lot of work ahead of us. But there can be many possible up sides to this. This could mean more family time. This could be that push that I need to get me to find a career path for myself, now that my children are grown. This could help us streamline our goals and ideas of what brings us happiness. This could give us contrast, that always seems to be lacking when living in abundance. When you have more than you need, how do you find appreciation for what you have? We see this in spoiled, rich kids (and their parents) -- that more is never enough.
Many of life's joys cost nothing. Think about all the things that bring you joy. Now, narrow this list down to just joys that are free. Did you find your list to be long? I did. If you wish to comment, tell me about your list, and I'll lift my cup of tea to toast your joys.
Today's sorrow may be tomorrow's memories of the good ol' days. And we realize that. So, we celebrate with cake, good tea and a family gathered together, making plans for our future.
You may be wondering -- I do keep a cake or two in the freezer. When we are needing a bit of cake, I slice off a few pieces, still frozen and thaw on plates. Yes, I am that crazy old lady with half a cake in her freezer, at all times.
