IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS

You haven’t heard from me because I have spent the last month commuting every day to my husband’s hospital room in San Francisco. Driving as I do in the morning and returning after dinner, it takes an hour and a half to two hours each way. I had to drive the first three weeks. Now, I have the option of taking the transbay bus and a city bus if I don’t have to bring too many things back and forth. The bus is great. The drivers drive and I remain calm. I can view the activities of daily life and witness the changing structures growing up in the city’s waterfront, look at the neighborhoods I frequented while in college. These are the little things I would not be looking at if I drove amid the traffic.

Today it is raining. A young woman got on the bus and sat across from me. She held her red umbrella by the handle so it was on its top. She then twirled it to have the sections fold in on themselves and roll around so they could easily be held in place by the snap and strap. Snap. It’s wound tight. Never thought of that. A little thing.

While dealing with hospital staff, doctor to janitor, I am also reminded of the little things that cheer up a day or soften s request. “Good morning “ while looking in the eyes of a person. “Thank you” for the simple tasks done, not just the life saving events. Smiling at people who walk the halls. I play a game with myself, smiling and seeing who smiles back or just continues in their dazed state.

As I deal with life changes it’s the human connections that make the passages manageable. I don’t have to travel dazed and unseeing. I can find little things each day to remind me the world still turns, the sun still moves across the sky, the girl twirls her umbrella. Someone returned my smile.

What are you facing as Spring begins that you wish would pass you by?

How do you keep focused on the goal, the new reality?

Please share so we all learn new tricks to use to navigate what challenges life presents.