Saturday, December 12, 2009

Small Things I Love That Matter

I've been having a nasty two-week battle with flu and an intractable cough which was not going away. The doctor and I were worried it was pneumonia, but THANK GOD, it wasn't. She came up with a SURGE STRATEGY which included inhalers, bed rest, forcing fluids, the whole routine, and it worked!

So this is one of the first days I've felt really WELL since getting sick in Florida over Thanksgiving Weekend. So I need to do a rewind on the holidays and start by remembering to be amazingly thankful for my typically excellent health. Like a great spouse you are foolish enough to neglect, I have been taking my great health for granted ... but no more! Now I bow to my health, bring her bouquets of roses and anything else I can offer to woo and win that wonderful health back.

I'm in my kitchen, where it's getting warm here at 6:00am on a very cold morning. The temp is 23F outside. Brrrrrrr ... and I am noticing the small things in my life that I love and that matter to me. Like this favorite spoon of mine with a blunt end and streamlined design which I use to eat yogurt. Okay, okay, it's like a little shovel used to dig a hole in a flat round plot of terrain -- the inviting round circle of new fresh yogurt hiding under the metallic cover when you rip it open. It's just a not-so-fancy spoon that I happen to love. I'm just crazy about it.

And I love my tea. English Breakfast tea made up in a big black ceramic teapot. I love the tea, the teapot, the cup. Simple things but they make all the difference.

And I have a favorite grey cloche hat on my head. Soft, felty (actually polartec fleece), grey with a big cuff, a perfectly excellent hat. Thank god for it.

And I love my fingerless gloves from the Gap, black wool with a grey stripe around the wrist. They are just the thing, in this cold (but growing warmer) kitchen.

And my beau remembered to get me a pecan cranberry whole wheat roll in a little bakery bag -- the kind with the cellophane peekaboo window -- like lovely lingerie for baked goods. And I forgot he got it for me and since he's asleep in the other room, he isn't around to remind me, so I just kind of stumbled upon it on the kitchen counter after making my tea. And what a darling to leave that for me to cheer up my morning. This guy is wonderful.

But really these small things that matter are suddenly jumping into my awareness, gaining big points of appreciation because this is the first morning I've felt well enough in weeks to even notice all the nice things in the world. This world is full of nice things -- very nice things -- especially when you're not coughing, sneezing, feverish and completely wiped out by illness.

I'm back from 2 weeks flat out in bed and the small things matter very much and seem like very big things this morning. So glad to be back.