We have arrived at the final letter of our YOUCANDOIT journey. In general, the "T" stands for thinking of something that makes you at least smile. If it makes you laugh, that's even better :) For my walking friends "T" stands for "touch the fence......or not" because the fence makes us laugh. Let me explain.
Toward the end of our 4 mile walk we head down a street that is blocked at the end by a fence. This street is the hardest of all for 2 reasons: 1) it's at the end of the walk and 2) if the wind is blowing it can be a real challenge. There is an open field on the other side of the fence so nothing blocks the wind and it can feel like you are swimming upstream.
One cold and stormy day I was walking by myself and feeling a little overwhelmed and weighed down not only by the weather, but also by the drastic changes that had occurred in my life over the last year. I had 2 children that left to serve missions for our church, one in Russia, the other in Korea. My oldest 2 children got married within 12 days of each other in the spring. Another one went away to college. That's 5 out of my 6 children that flew the coop within an 8 month period. Then in October, my father passed away from cancer. This particular day I was short on time and would have been justified in going home early, but I started thinking about the fence on the next street over and decided I couldn't skip it because the thought of it was already brightening my day and making me smile inside!
This fence I keep mentioning has become a symbolic finish line and a regular dose of laughter. Why would a fence make you smile you ask? Well some of us have gotten a little obsessed with the need to touch it. We have even been known to climb over big snow banks just to touch that fence! I'm not exactly sure what it proves, but for some of us the walk doesn't count unless you actually touch the fence. So imagine our dismay when some of our walking buddies refuse to touch the fence! How in the world can you walk down the street and NOT touch it? There are 2 who absolutely refuse. One of them will actually put her hand out getting within inches, but not all the way, just to prove she doesn't have to touch it! The other one has the cutest little twin boys that I adore, but she doesn't touch the fence either and wants to protect her boys from the craziness. I may or may not have, on occasion, offered to push the stroller to relieve my friend of the burden while going down such a windy street. Can I help it if the stroller gets close enough to the fence that the buddies can touch it? :) Now they will put their hands out to touch it as we get close -- much to the chagrin of their mother. :) We have ended many a walk giggling about our obsessive need to touch the fence.......or not.
As I reflect on the day that I was alone and struggling, I realize that even though I couldn't laugh, I found that I also couldn't resist smiling all the way into my soul as I thought about our trivial debate of whether to touch the fence......or not. They say that laughter is the best medicine, but I say smiling to yourself has some pretty potent healing powers too.
I assume everyone has a memory or two of laughing until you wanted to cry. When you are feeling low and it's hard to get up and do much, let those memories come to the surface and at least smile at them. I know from personal experience that doing that can brighten your day and bring a sense of joy and JOY is what we are after!
P.S. - Tragedy is striking!! They are going to tear down our fence sometime in the near future as they build houses in that field :( May the memory live on!!!
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