I'm sitting at home tonight, on the couch with a book in hand and all I can think is.... I love my life.
The windows are open for the first time in nearly a week following five or more days of endless (sweltering) heat, and all the stale hot humidity has dissipated, replaced by a cool breeze blowing through the screen. It's raining outside and the sound envelopes the house, broken only by the occasional passing car and the hum of the trains moving along the tracks in the distance. As I sit here and listen to the world around me, it hits me: Life is good.
Admittedly, it's taken a while for me to reach this point. It's been five years since I moved here and I can count on one hand the number of times I've sat here quietly contemplating the fact that I lead a happy little life. And I do, I'll admit it. I hate loneliness, but I relish my time alone and tonight, I am enjoying it. Thoroughly. It's a luxury that, thanks to the fact that I'm not married and I don't have kids, I still possess... better enjoy it now.
When I first moved here (in 2006 — where did the time go?!), I called home virtually every night in tears about how much I hated it here and what a bad decision it was to move to Western Mass. I was 23 years old, fresh out of college living two hours away from my family and still naive enough to believe I could earn a good living doing what I loved to do: writing. For as many times as I've lamented my life decisions, I'll be the first to admit that it hasn't all been bad. I've met some interesting people along the way and have learned the value of living in a small, tight-knit community.
Today, I also understand the importance of alone time. It's great always being in the presence of others, but there's something to be said for the opportunity to do what you want, when you want to do it. Tonight, for instance, the TV has been shut off; in lieu of spending all my time in front of a stove cooking dinner, I was able to get away with simply heating up a can of soup; and the rest of the evening shall be spent on the couch with a book in hand. I may even turn my phone on silent and pour a glass of wine.
One day, I'm going to look back on my twenties, when I was single and free, with fondness. I know I'll miss having the opportunity to simply exist, without very many worries. I'll do what I can to enjoy it now. Let me just add that to tonight's To Do list:
*Read
*Relax
*Enjoy life
Done. What's not to love?
Showing posts with label perspective. Show all posts
Showing posts with label perspective. Show all posts
Monday, July 25, 2011
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Domestic bliss
It's no secret that I lack a certain prowess in the kitchen. Perhaps if my kitchen was wider than your average hallway I might like to flit around the room with my favorite recipe book and a few Pyrex dishes filled with desserts, but my humble abode came complete with a stove smack dab in the middle of (you guessed it!) a hallway and, well, I can't be bothered to spend any length of time there.
Given this obvious lack of skills, whenever I do feel the urge to cook/bake or do anything in the kitchen that involves a hot appliance (stove/oven, toaster or coffee maker to name a few), my friends joke around about my not setting fire to the place. This joke is usually quickly followed with another joke about how I should start a fire, if, for nothing else than to get the fire department to my house and meet my future husband.
While I haven't actually started a fire in order to meet hot men, I have spent a considerable amount of time in their presence and while they're definitely up my alley, they're most definitely not husband material. At least not for me. I'm sure their wives would argue that they make perfectly acceptable husbands, but I digress.
I've got a sudden urge to bake something lately, potential risk of fire be damned. Apple crisp, brownies, cookies, cake...you name it, I wanna make it. The cleaning up process after said baking is a bit of a turnoff, however. With so little space in my kitchen, my sink leaves a little more to be desired. The bowls, pans and spoons from dinner/dessert last weekend are still waiting to be cleaned, although if you ask me, they've been "soaking" for so long they've probably cleaned themselves by now.
This sudden need for delicious scents to waft through my apartment (and not through use of scented candles) coupled with my recent redecorating project at home is starting to raise a number of red flags in my mind. What on earth is going on with me lately? Has domestic tranquility finally set in at the tender age of 27? Say it ain't so! But then I'd rather sit home with a bottle of wine, some homemade dessert and a romantic comedy than go out bar hopping with my friends.
Perhaps the world has fallen off its axis?After all, I live in Western Mass after swearing never to return after college; I'm dating someone whose profession isn't listed as one of the civil services; my apartment has never been cleaner and I appear to want nothing more than to be June Cleaver or that damn Donna Reed.
My, how things have changed.
Given this obvious lack of skills, whenever I do feel the urge to cook/bake or do anything in the kitchen that involves a hot appliance (stove/oven, toaster or coffee maker to name a few), my friends joke around about my not setting fire to the place. This joke is usually quickly followed with another joke about how I should start a fire, if, for nothing else than to get the fire department to my house and meet my future husband.
While I haven't actually started a fire in order to meet hot men, I have spent a considerable amount of time in their presence and while they're definitely up my alley, they're most definitely not husband material. At least not for me. I'm sure their wives would argue that they make perfectly acceptable husbands, but I digress.
I've got a sudden urge to bake something lately, potential risk of fire be damned. Apple crisp, brownies, cookies, cake...you name it, I wanna make it. The cleaning up process after said baking is a bit of a turnoff, however. With so little space in my kitchen, my sink leaves a little more to be desired. The bowls, pans and spoons from dinner/dessert last weekend are still waiting to be cleaned, although if you ask me, they've been "soaking" for so long they've probably cleaned themselves by now.
This sudden need for delicious scents to waft through my apartment (and not through use of scented candles) coupled with my recent redecorating project at home is starting to raise a number of red flags in my mind. What on earth is going on with me lately? Has domestic tranquility finally set in at the tender age of 27? Say it ain't so! But then I'd rather sit home with a bottle of wine, some homemade dessert and a romantic comedy than go out bar hopping with my friends.
Perhaps the world has fallen off its axis?After all, I live in Western Mass after swearing never to return after college; I'm dating someone whose profession isn't listed as one of the civil services; my apartment has never been cleaner and I appear to want nothing more than to be June Cleaver or that damn Donna Reed.
My, how things have changed.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Putting things in perspective
Yesterday, I sent Doc a text message asking how work was going (he's doing a rotation in emergency medicine - ew!) and his response was: "Well I haven't killed anybody yet." Wonderful. That's what I like to hear! Rock on!
This succinct declaration made me feel slightly better about some of my job stress lately. Because while it would be terrible for a news brief or other news item not to make it into the paper, the lack of its appearance isn't going to hurt anybody, much less kill them. If I screw up it's just a tiny blip on the radar. If Doc makes an error at his job, however, somebody's life is at stake.
He's such a good boyfriend; always helping me to put things into perspective.
I can breathe deeply now... good air in, bad air out.... ahhhhhh.
Today I came into work to learn about a few mistakes in this week's paper:
1. The fire logs ran under a police log header. Oops. A minor issue; happens to the best of us.
2. A child was incorrectly identified in a photo spread. I haven't gotten this confirmed because nobody approached me directly about it, but a friend of a friend happened to mention it. Nothing I can do unless someone tells me about it. Besides, I didn't take the photo, I just ran what the correspondent provided me.
3. Three obits were left out of the paper. All three were e-mailed earlier this week when we had e-mail problems and weren't received on time to be included. Easily rectified because I can run them next week, but the funeral home director still wasn't happy and (I think) we ended up losing an ad over it. I did have the foresight to run a brief on our front page about e-mail problems so hopefully I can't be found at fault for it.
Thank you to the individuals who pointed out my faults, I truly appreciate it. Now I'd like to pose this question: Was there anything good about the paper this week? Or was my 40-hours of hell all for naught?
I'm sure come Monday I'll hear about a whole number of other errors but I'm inclined to say "whatever" at this point. Let's be happy with the fact that there is a paper to criticize this week, huh? I put one out. Kudos to me because that was no small feat!
Now, who wants to celebrate with some wine?
This succinct declaration made me feel slightly better about some of my job stress lately. Because while it would be terrible for a news brief or other news item not to make it into the paper, the lack of its appearance isn't going to hurt anybody, much less kill them. If I screw up it's just a tiny blip on the radar. If Doc makes an error at his job, however, somebody's life is at stake.
He's such a good boyfriend; always helping me to put things into perspective.
I can breathe deeply now... good air in, bad air out.... ahhhhhh.
Today I came into work to learn about a few mistakes in this week's paper:
1. The fire logs ran under a police log header. Oops. A minor issue; happens to the best of us.
2. A child was incorrectly identified in a photo spread. I haven't gotten this confirmed because nobody approached me directly about it, but a friend of a friend happened to mention it. Nothing I can do unless someone tells me about it. Besides, I didn't take the photo, I just ran what the correspondent provided me.
3. Three obits were left out of the paper. All three were e-mailed earlier this week when we had e-mail problems and weren't received on time to be included. Easily rectified because I can run them next week, but the funeral home director still wasn't happy and (I think) we ended up losing an ad over it. I did have the foresight to run a brief on our front page about e-mail problems so hopefully I can't be found at fault for it.
Thank you to the individuals who pointed out my faults, I truly appreciate it. Now I'd like to pose this question: Was there anything good about the paper this week? Or was my 40-hours of hell all for naught?
I'm sure come Monday I'll hear about a whole number of other errors but I'm inclined to say "whatever" at this point. Let's be happy with the fact that there is a paper to criticize this week, huh? I put one out. Kudos to me because that was no small feat!
Now, who wants to celebrate with some wine?
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