LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO FOLD A FITTED SHEET

It’s funny how life lessons come to you in strange ways. You just have to be aware to receive them. I am working on being more mindful. That is hard for someone whose mind goes fifty miles an hour. Obviously that is just the point. I would like to share my mindfulness lesson for this week.

My mother was a perfectionist, and she had the corner on being mindful before being mindful was a fad. When she did something, she did it right. Her powers of observation were powerful and keen. She corralled six kids without taking a breath. She always had a unique ability to be aware and listened to what people said. Whatever she did from the most onerous job, she immersed herself and most of all she appreciated a job well done.

I remember one Christmas when all the family was together and someone asked my Mom to show us how to fold a fitted sheet. (Big family) She got up in front of all of us and whipped that sheet out and gave us a sheet folding lesson. When she finished, that darned fitted sheet looked perfectly folded. We all were amazed and had the most fun out of our sheet folding event.

What strikes me the most was my Mom had unlimited energy and could do ten women’s worth of work in a day. She took pleasure in every task she did, and it had better be done right. (Ask her kids who had to wash dishes over again and again because she would find the littlest speck of dirt.) I wonder if she had such high energy because she was mindful. She didn’t have time to worry about the past or future.

Some days I do pretty well with mindfulness and other days less. I am a work in progress. Secretly I believe, “Life is too short to fold a fitted sheet,” but I do it anyway because that is what my mom taught me. Here is a tribute to my mother. Thank you for all you have taught me.