My silent mantra in recent days has been Suck it up Buttercup!
I'll spare you the details.
As my sister Donnie frequently reminds me, "It's all good!"
And it is. Things could much more challenging.
Buttercups
Reykjavík, Iceland
June 12, 2014
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
I've been offsetting "Suck it up Buttercup" all week
with little prayers of gratitude for things that are going well.
But a little snark and exasperation crept into that gratitude this afternoon, as in
"Thank you for the strength to remove these extremely tight coverings
from our couch so I can wash them after Terry spilled beer on them."
Let's not even get into why he was balancing a can of beer
on one of the fitted pillows forming the back of one of our white couches.
Stripped Couch Pieces
Aurora, Colorado, USA
July 23, 2020
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
It was an accident that happened when I passed him a board game
that I wanted to donate (get rid of).
I've been tearing through the house à la Marie Kondo all week.
Terry wasn't sure that he wanted to part with it,
even though we've had it some fifteen years and have never played it.
Let's just say, "No joy was sparked," as the beer toppled.
I'm cutting Terry a little slack, though,
because he's been dizzy for two days and wondering if he has Covid-19.
He considered going for a test today while I was out shopping for groceries.
I'm so glad he didn't.
He was going to go to the same testing center I went to weeks ago,
the one at which a PPE-garbed nurse said, "Oh, we can't test you.
We only test essential workers and members of our clinic.
You need to go another site ... ."
Suck it up Buttercup.
Thank you for giving me a kind voice to sweetly remind Terry
that that's the center I went to weeks ago and called him from in tears
when they wouldn't test me and I was too sick to drive to another site.
But it's all good!
I'm drinking a glass of wine while I wait for the couch coverings to gently wash,
and Terry is watching the Return of Baseball downstairs.
Suck it up Buttercup.
Thank you for Dr. Fauci throwing the first pitch on Opening Day.
He is my hero, even if, as one headline said,
"Dr. Anthony Fauci's 1st Pitch Socially Distances From Strike Zone."
Couch coverings in the dryer on delicate low heat.
Second glass of wine poured.
Dinner underway.
Suck it up Buttercup.
Thank you that I can hop up and make dinner.
The time might come when I can't and would wish I could.
And thank you for my telling myself, "Don't go there!"
when I began to wonder how a can of beer goes with two days of dizzy.
"What's up?" Terry asks as he comes upstairs.
This means one of two things or both:
"I'm hungry" and/or the baseball game is not much fun.
"I'm making dinner. What happened with the baseball game?"
"Rain delay. How's your post coming?"
"I'm having great fun writing about couch coverings and spilled beer."
"Beer? ... That was ginger ale."
Oops.
Thank you for gently reminding me that
Terry isn't the only one who sometimes doesn't listen.
Dinner done. Dishes done. Terry's sleeping.
Tomorrow morning I'll suck it up Buttercup
as I steam iron the couch components and wrestle them back on the couch
if they finish drying on the banister overnight.
Delicate low heat in the dryer wasn't getting the job done.
And I'll drive Terry to our doctor's office if he's still dizzy.
It's highly unlikely that it's Covid-19.
Fingers crossed 🤞 that he jiggled a crystal loose in his inner ear
while playing pickleball or something else easily remedied.
And now I'm going to finish off a rare third glass of wine
and go play with my latest jigsaw puzzle.
I've completed the easy part, the cottonwood tree.
All that's left is about 600 pieces of red sandstone cliff,
truly a pleasure for this geologist. I find it very calming.
In the Works
Aurora, Colorado, USA
July 21, 2020
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
Sometimes you can have an extra busy week
when your mantra is "Suck it up Buttercup!" as you power through.
It helps to be grateful for the things that are going well,
like health and strength and energy and a loving, appreciative husband,
even when he balances a can of ginger ale on a couch pillow.
Till next time ~
Fundy Blue
On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved