January 14, 2021

Remember when I mentioned a few days ago about how difficult work was…well, it’s been a long week. But today I was able to resolve a problem that has been an absolute blight on my workdays for weeks. It’s been a problem that immediately affected others more than myself and had the potential to really negatively impact a sector of our business. Now that I put it that way, it’s amazing that I was entrusted to figure it out. But I persisted and got it done.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I’ve realized over the years that I’m pretty driven by the end game. I like the feeling of accomplishing something. I could never be the type of person who lounged all day with nothing to do. I’d go insane. At the same time, I don’t like spinning my wheels and getting nowhere. That may be why when I finally got this issue resolved today, I felt giddy. My wheels stopped spinning and I got to the finish line. I was also so relieved to put this problem aside, that I felt like crying from relief.

I think it’s important to have a sense of accomplishment, especially when there isn’t a lot going on. I suspect during this pandemic era, with people working from home, I’m not the only one who has doesn’t have as much to do. Some days, I count getting the house clean or finishing the laundry as my achievements. Not high stakes, I know, but I take what I can get. Today, I’m thankful it was something important as well as an issue I could take off my continual to-do list.

May 25

Another beautiful day, and one with accomplishments. I finished a huge yard project, just in time for Memorial Day rain. Of course, tomorrow I am hosting a cookout with friends and want to be able to use the fire pit area that I started last summer and completed today. It may not happen with a 60% chance of rain in the forecast, but that will simply have to be OK. It doesn’t change that I’m happy to have the project off my to-do list. There will be many beautiful nights for a proper campfire coming up. My friends and I will still enjoy spending time together tomorrow.

Besides finishing projects, I’m also thankful to have been able to spend time with someone very special to me. It was his birthday and his only wish was to be able to spend the day working on his own house projects. (He just bought his first house.) He wanted our morning coffee run to be the birthday “thing.” However, in my family, birthdays are a big deal. Therefore, I can’t let them simply pass by without a proper acknowledgment. So I promised no celebration, and we compromised on me bringing him dinner in the evening. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as successful as I was on getting projects done.  And although he was disappointed and frustrated with his day, he didn’t let it ruin the night. Instead, the evening consisted of  dinner with fantastic desserts, time on the deck in the perfect evening air, a fire in the fireplace and a Dr. Who movie. I thought it was a lovely beginning to a new year older. I hope he did too.