With the stores open again today and my favorite handy man around, it was time to take care of all those never-ending household chores, including hanging drapes and the last window covering which just came in the mail as well as trying to figure out the best way to bring the cable from the antennae in the upstairs bedroom down to the den TV. It sure is nice to have an electrician for a boyfriend! :) I never would have been able to do any of this by myself. In fact, I really didn’t do any of the handy many work myself. I feel bad every weekend that my sweetheart comes to visit and gets right down to work, but he keeps telling me he enjoys being able to take care of a house and yard again. It seems that’s one of those traits of men. They often enjoy fixing things, just like women often enjoy cleaning! At least I know I do. Sounds weird, but it’s therapeutic for me at times. If I’ve had a hard day, and my mind is overloaded to the point that I simply want to shut it down, but it’s not time to go to bed yet, I’ll wash dishes or vacuum. The mindless act of cleaning which produces such a tangible, visible result of getting something done makes me feel calmer somehow. I think maybe it’s a similar effect for men with fixing things. It makes them feel needed and useful, and I know it certainly has made all the difference for me in my new home. It already looks as if I’ve been here quite a while because everything has been put into place so quickly. In fact, when I had my department holiday party here over two weeks ago, most of the staff could not believe how put together it all was in such a short period of time. Plus, they couldn’t believe how much stuff I had, but over the last decade plus of my time here, I’ve learned how to store and organize a lot of accumulated stuff into very small spaces. The house just gave me room to actually put it all out to be used again. None of it would have happened without help, and once again, I realize how blessed I am to have someone whom I love with all my heart around to help and spend even the most mundane of days together, especially since I am so far away from my family during the holiday season, and otherwise, I probably would have been spending the day after Christmas alone, missing my children and getting no chores around the house done. :)
The distance from loved ones is the only thing I’ve discovered gets harder instead of easier here over time. You get used to not having access to everything you have in the states, such as a full scale grocery store which is open all hours, museums and cultural events, and even malls to window shop or pick up some every day item that you can’t find on the atoll at all. You learn how to wait, shop online, or just discover you don’t need it at all, but being away from family only gets tougher. I have a hard time calling my parents on the holidays because it just makes me sad to be away from them. Coupled with the fact that my boys are not with me right now either, I felt very melancholy this afternoon, but that’s where I turn to the one I love and realize I have what so many seek out their whole lives and are never fully satisfied with, including an idyllic love with a man who treats me so much better than I ever deserved, two beautiful, sensitive kids, parents and family with whom I have very close and healthy relationships, a home of my own, a job I love, and so many more blessings, not because of anything I did, but because of a gracious, loving God who knows exactly what is best for me, and who has been kind enough to grant me all my dreams and more.
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