Once in a while I wax profound and yesterday was one of those days! Earlier in the day I was in the kitchen, yes, you read that correctly, making my escalloped potatoes with ham. Tracy, who lives downstairs, was calling from the road, asking if I was ‘a lady who lunches’ or not today. Since I was pretty quick at getting my dinner made, I was in! She mentioned that MamMa and she were going lift chair shopping.
I asked how the getting settled part was coming along, since MamMa moved in downstairs. A couple weeks ago there was a struggle in more than one way getting Willie Mae and her stuff into one room. It seems to have settled down some but now were adding another piece of furniture to her already tight quarters. MamMa is greatly attached to some of her furniture but it is not really safe to have her room more tightly packed than Rooms to Go! Tracy has a hard time being firm with MamMa but as an outsider, it is easy for me to say that something has to go. I told Tracy, who is a licensed therapist, it is all about ‘living a life of compromise’…Tracy said she really liked that and was going to write it down for future use. I am flattered!
And it is true! All the time we make a compromise, not necessarily the ones thrust upon us but some we make just to get along in life. Are we really so attached to an idea or something tangible that we become unyielding? I do not get upset when the palm trees are trimmed on our property, yet others are out taking pictures of the “butchered landscape”. Excuse me, really? Would you prefer to have dead branches and hardened fruit crashing through the glass than have them trimmed? Before summer is out, or hurricane season is over, the growth will have returned to its pre-trimming splendor. We compromise, or sacrifice, the branches on the trees for our safety and well-being.
If we are uncompromising and insist on having 11 pieces of furniture in a 16 x 16 room, and we are 90 years old with a walker, something has got to give! At some point one must surrender or compromise. Especially when it comes to downsizing, as I have done plenty of that in the past eight years. Wow, has it been eight years already? No, actually it has been a bit longer than that but for publishing purposes, yes, downsizing I did! Some of the things I really really liked, I kept. Other things were easier to let go of for spaces’ sake or for my own sanity. And for purposes of decorating in my own style. Mission accomplished, I’d say!
The ladies came last night for Dinner and a Movie, watching “The King’s Speech”, with Martie and Betty seeing it for the first time. When the King is forced to make his first wartime radio address, his coach was right there with him, helping him along. In the background played a song by Beethoven which I know better as one sung by Sarah Brightman. A haunting melody which truly enhanced the drama of the speech as well as the King’s ability to deliver it. Oh, rats! I gave away the ending!
My escalloped potatoes and ham were well-received, with Martie and Twila going back for seconds. Twila reported that the creamed corn is her favorite which I was glad to hear since I only had green beans besides the corn. She is on a blood thinner right now and has to avoid green veggies which is why I chose the corn. No leftover corn but at least another meal or two of the potatoes. Tonight my friends, Cliff and Carol, are coming over so I might make a frozen pizza or perhaps, if I feel getting dressed, may get a Papa Murphy’s. Since I am happily in my swimsuit now (yeah, no more dust bunnies!!) I will stay in this until I decide to put on clothes for when the my guests arrive. But now, off I go!
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