Posts Tagged ‘make it do’

I have been reading the book Plain and Simple: A Woman’s Journey to the Amish.  So even though I am only about half way through, I wanted to share a few of the bits of wisdom from the book.

It is about a woman, Sue Bender, who has spent her life in the frantic pursuit of success, but who is inexplicably drawn to the Amish.

One Summer, she decided to live with an Amish family, to observe and learn their ways.

Here are a few excerpts from the book:

She described the process of the women canning vegetables…   No one rushed.  Every step was done with care.  The women moved through the day unhurried.  There was no rushing to finish so they could get on to the “important things.”  For them, it was all important.

Everything was a ritual.  Doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, baking the bread, quilting, canning, hanging out the laundry, picking fresh produce, weeding.  Friday: housecleaning; Saturday: mowing the lawn; Monday: washing.

I have been thinking a lot about my days and how to make them simpler, less busy and less harried.  I also love the idea of routine…. which is definitely not my strength.

It’s high time I get more of a routine: Mondays: ironing; Tuesdays: dusting and mopping; Wednesdays: bathrooms… and so on.

I think it would help me feel less like there is always too much to do and too little time.

I love the idea of deliberation and of being unhurried… of making each task important and of doing my best at each task.  I think one of the keys to happiness is to enjoy the everyday things you have to do.  And there is no enjoying anything when you are rushed.

This book has given me a lot to think about.

Sometime I would love to share my mother Leslie’s experience with the Amish… it’s quite a story.

I was working on my post yesterday when it hit me, it was my 100th post.

Holy cow!  Didn’t that call for a celebration or something?   The trouble was I wasn’t feeling very creative yesterday, I was hot and tired… so I finished what I was writing and called it a day.

Today is my 101st post…  and I had the same urge… I really should celebrate.

I should write 101 things you never knew about me…  if I wanted to send you running for the hills.

I should write about 101 things I love…  this is a wonderful activity, by the way. Last January, I took the time to write down 50 things.  It made me feel so grateful.  But probably not too riveting for you dear readers…

So at the risk of sounding quite hokey, I thought I would share the reason I started this blog.

I’m warning you, this might sound a little flighty….

You see, I had a dream that inspired “Make it Do.”

Now I also must tell you, I am not one to underestimate the power of dreams…

When I was barely pregnant with my twin daughters, my mother in law, phoned my husband early in the morning.  She had just had a dream that she needed to tell us about.

In her dream, she was in a hen house.  She was standing over an egg, and although she knows you are not supposed to help a chick break out of it’s shell, she felt she compelled to help this one.  She peeled away the shell.  When she was done, she was horrified… there was not one, but two chicks in the shell. But the birds weren’t ready to be hatched… they looked limp, gray and lifeless.  And she was filled with shock and remorse.  She turned away.  But after a moment, she heard a chirping sound and looked back at the shell.  Inside were two yellow, healthy, darling, little chicks.

After she finished telling my husband about the dream she said, “I think it means you are going to have twins.”  He had a good chuckle and hung up the phone.  He told me the story of the dream and I ran to the bathroom to throw up.  When I was done, I came back and told my husband “Oh no, I am not having twins… I am not the twin mom type… I don’t even like any two names that rhyme and I hate matching outfits!”

As time unfolded her dream became incredibly prescient, because I was indeed having twins.  And they came early… way too early.  They weighed 1 lb. 10 oz. and 1 lb. 3 oz. at birth and they looked limp and gray and lifeless.  They actually looked like unfeathered baby birds with thin translucent skin and incredibly tiny limbs.

Thankfully, Kit’s dream continued to be right.  My little chicks eventually fattened up, turned pink and healthy… and although I didn’t name them matching names and rarely buy matching outfits (though I love to sometimes…)  I especially love having my twins.

Early this year I had a dream that I had written a book called, “Make it Do.”  I woke up with my heart racing… I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was something really important.  I immediately wrote down everything I could remember from the dream.  It was about my grandmother and the 1930’s and about finding ways of making life sweet when times are hard.  And it was a lovely book in my dream.

My life is full and busy and I went about living it.  The dreamed nagged at me and I ignored it.  It nagged at me some more.  But I had no idea how to write a book.  So in the end I started this blog.  And 101 posts later… I am really glad I did.