The Things I Love

A cup of cocoa and a few Girl Scout cookies can make a girl pensive.  Actually, I’ve had a couple of days of introspection and decompression after finishing a big and stressful project, another annual piano festival, involving about a thousand young pianists and their teachers and their families.  Every year, I ask myself, “Why do I do this?”  This year was particularly ponderous for a number of reasons.  So, with cup in hand, I’m thinking about the things I love.

This is a blessed season of life for me.  Since the Abernathy kids have flown the nest, I am able to choose how I spend each of my days.  I have a very full schedule most days, but it is of my own choosing.  No one is depending on my care for his survival, unlike the first thirty plus years of our family life.   I realize that I have made choices that allow me to surround myself with the things that I love.  I will make a small attempt to list those things, people mostly, that make my world so very happy.

First, I love God and His Son, my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I do.  I really do.  That love is what makes the rest of my priorities so much easier to arrange.  I know there is a plan for me that leads to my happiness, both now and forever.  I am grateful that I have a part in God’s plan of happiness.  I could write all night about that because it permeates everything else that I do.  Ask me about it.  Everything else that I will write about comes under that plan.

I love my husband and our life together.  He has helped me to fulfill my dreams and to surround myself with beauty.  He tries to make choices that will make me happy.  He sacrifices his own comfort for me, and I am grateful.  We have enjoyed 33 years of marriage, which is only the beginning of an eternity together.  I must admit that our drives in the roadster are pretty exciting, especially with the top down.  I don’t think I will ever tire of the idea that he can sweep me away in style with only enough seats for the two of us.

We made five wonderful children, and I dearly love each of them.  I am so proud of their successes and their dedication to serving God and their fellow men.  They are beautiful to me, and they are my jewels.  Wayne says that I smile more when they are around, and that’s true.  They’re funny and smart, beautiful and handsome, and genuinely great folks.

  The depth of love increases as the grandchildren arrive.  Now there are nearly nine, and they are their grandmother’s darlings to hug, spoil, shop for, rock, kiss, read to, walk holding hands, and google chat with.  They give me the sweet knowledge that my life’s work will not end with me.  There have been many times when my tears have mixed with their soft curls as I have held their precious faces between my hands.  Our motto is, “We will stay in love forever.”

I love my friends.  They are my support in the storms and stresses of daily life.  When I am sick, lonely, discouraged, scared, tired, adventurous, overwhelmed, or sad, they hold my hands.  We have chatted, walked, shopped, aqua jogged, planned, prepared, cooked, entertained, washed, travelled many miles, hugged, cried, and shopped some more.  You know who you are.  My dear husband would have a much harder job if you were not here to lift me up when I need you.  Who else would convince me that I need to slow down or to refrain from wearing something unflattering, or simply to be quiet and listen to loving counsel?

I love my home, my students, my piano, my work as a teacher and an organizer of musical events, my gardens, my sunroom, my front porch, satellite radio in my car, and my cocoa machine.  I love sewing for the grand babies, reading novels and history, conducting choirs, and soaking in the spa after my workouts.  Did I mention that I love my piano?  I don’t play it very well, but I love it.

These are the days when I am blessed to fill my hours with the people and things that I love.  I wish I saw my far away family and friends more often, but I rejoice when I do.  As I’ve thought about my life’s choices these past couple of days, I can summarize by saying that I fill my days with good things.  I want every day to be full of good things so that on my last day, it will be well with me.  The wonderful news is that it is well with me now.