Awesome

By the time this hits the street a new President will have been elected in the good ole US of A. It has been a very stressful, hate-filled time for many people. This US election has been the WWE of elections. It is because of all this bullpucky I’ve decided to focus this column a list of awesomenesses. A list of ordinary things that make my day and raise my enjoymentof- life factor. Not my definitive list, but a bunch of amazing and awesome!

1. Awesome is finding a parking spot on a busy County street, close to the store where you want to drop some dollars. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid to park a few blocks from my destination and hoof it to the store. However, when the spot is right there, smackdab in front of the shop, life is as sweet as pie—coconut cream, that is. This bit of awesomeness is only made even more awesome if I don’t have to parallel park while a half-dozen motorists are honking and swearing as I manoeuvre the Rolls-Can-Hardly into position!

2. Awesome is waking up rested. Oh, all y’all know what I mean. It’s a simple thing. I would love to go to bed at a reasonable time and when I wake I’d love to feel like I’m ready to tackle the day. This doesn’t happen nearly enough for my liking, but when it does, oh my goodness! I now have a combination of rituals I perform before I hit the hay. I’m likely to have a good night’s sleep, at least three nights out of seven, if I stick to the countdown. I’ll take those numbers.

3. Awesome is following a recipe to the letter and, voila, the finished product is as pictured. The number of leaden loaves of bread, grey roasts, soggy vegetables and insipid soups I’ve sliced, served and ladled is really astonishing. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy the process of cooking and baking. I really hate wasting food when a recipe doesn’t work out. Heck, I just schlepped a block of raisin bread to the green bin. So salty and dense was that loaf, I was afraid to cut it up and throw it to the blue jays for fear of causing bodily harm.

4. Awesome is when I have a good hair day! I don’t want to hear from any of you who think I’ve got lovely, curly, red hair. T’ain’t so. I have a disobedient, overwhelming halo of frizzy, greyish-reddish-brownish tangles, which only respond to heaps of product and, occasionally, divine intervention. My good hair days are so few and far between that I can accurately give the dates they occurred. My wedding day was not one of those days, that day having been hot and humid. Today? Today is not an awesome hair day, either. Thank goodness for a fabulous parking spot.

5. Awesome is a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee is especially awesome when it’s brewed properly by someone who knows what they’re doing. A truly awesome coffee isn’t made from the floor-sweepings that pass as coffee, no matter what Juan Valdez has to say. LOML is my personal barista. He knows how to make me shut up and enjoy a cup of Joe.

And, finally, at least for now:

6. Awesome is when one of our kids or the kids of our kids calls just to say hello. There was a day when a phone call from a kid meant “we need something”, usually the car or money. And that was part of being a parent and it was a lesser form of awesomeness. Today, the calls are usually for chit-chat, updates on events or letting us know of an impending visit.

On a different note, for those of you who know me, and those who think you do, Friday is Remembrance Day. Please take a moment, during the day, to remember those who gave their lives for this country. Two minutes, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month at eleven in the morning. Reach out to a veteran. Thank them for their gift. You’ll feel the peace.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca