A Hobbit Reveals Herself


It’s time for the plant catalogues to start coming in. It didn’t mean much a few years ago but now that gardening is officially a hobby (or in other words, Time Filler) I’m pouring over them like they were scriptures.  If I poured over scriptures like I should.  Which I don’t, but should, since the reality of their central theme is getting closer.  
Mom and Dad in the early eighties living the life style that
allowed them to wear dress ups.  

Here are my hobbies:  cooking, reading, researching heath websites in order to extend my life, exercising sporadically (frankly the health research is taking up some of that time), playing the piano, trying to learn French, calling my kids and planning visits to them, visiting with friends, and last but not least, gardening.  

Oh, and I run errands.  
I love errands.  Errands can be checked off and stacked up as accomplishments.  But they’re usually not too hard and don’t involve too much thought so it makes it so I can skate through life piling up accomplishments without too many actual demands on my brain.  

Which is why I’m trying to look at a few more long term things—goals I’d like to accomplish in a bigger way.  So, what do I want to have in ten years?  If the very act of planning something doesn't jinx it.  


 1) I want to look back on a life filled with having shared as much as possible of the lives of my kids and their various offspring.  Share perspective, a listening ear, babysitting, money.  Whatever.  
2) I want to have a perennial yard that just comes up every year and chokes out the weeds.  
3) I want a happy marriage with my then old but still cute husband.  
4) I want to be healthy because I eat my vegetables, take walks or ride my exercise bike and go to bed on time.  
5) I want to still be interested in others and have an active mind.  
6) I want to have friends that I care about and that I can be myself around.  
7) I want a good spiritual life with reasonable expectations for eternity because I keep the commandments to love God and my neighbor as myself.  


Anything else?  What would be good? Thoughts? 

Comments

The Halls said…
I love this post. I have been thinking a lot lately of goals I need to be working on. You have inspired me to get my goals down on paper.
4:52 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Winning Christmas

Image
This is the year I was going to win Christmas. Our house would be just like my aunt’s house in Mississippi when I was growing up.   The house where you were afraid to touch anything.  That’s what good taste means to me—the ability to make everyone else feel that they’ve done everything wrong.  The feeling that you’re only supposed to whisper.   As a grandparent, thats just what I wanted. Just one year in my life, I wanted our house to be so fancy it made kids scared. With awe.   Except now I realize that the reason I used to decorate the house like crazy is the kids.  After waiting years and years and years to finally get rid of the kids, it turns out they were of some use at Christmas.  I decorated for them.  Basically I didn’t care what the neighbors thought of our house—I cared what the kids thought!  Who Knew?   Unfortunately, decorating is one of those housewife things that I feel competitive about. Just once I wanted to...
Read more

Trivial? Hardly!

As I slid into my seat, the guy next to me immediately starting joking about how huge he was and telling me that if he bumped me in any way to just slug him. This is always the way coming back to Salt Lake from New York. Friendly. Going out is a different story. Everyone has on their game face, their “I live in New York” face. Their “I’ve got a great haircut and I have no intention of letting you into my space ever” face. On the way back the passengers are over-friendly. Maybe it’s the relief of getting to be yourself again after four days of people running into you and acting like it’s your fault. All the couples returning to Salt Lake have kids, dirty blonde hair, and knee-length Bermudas. We export these wholesome types as our way of obeying the commandment to be leavening in the world. And then when they get back on the mother ship to go home and we send out a fresh batch. You want to ask them immediately what ward they’re in. The man next to me on my flight from New Yo...
Read more
Image
I miss Maggie most when I have a great leftover like this mornings cheese omelet.  I would never have to explain why it was a leftover, or worry that she wouldn't like it. 
Read more