Looking for the Shiny Side of the Penny

It's been a hell of a year so far, dear reader. I took last week and allowed myself a bit of a spiral. I worried about all the things I can't control: the loss of my dear friend, the loss of my dog, Chubby, the diagnosis of Buster, the loss of our beloved market, the loss of our favorite little fragrance company, and how it will affect our business, growing pains with my teenage daughter, and about a hundred other things that pop into my head in the middle of the night. I gave myself a week, and then I promised you that this week would be game on. So, dear reader, I am keeping my promise. This week, I am working on all the things I can control, and not only that, but I am also finding the positives in them.  

As my dad would say, "Look for the shiny side of the penny." Although I can't really find a shiny side to losing my friend, I will say that one of the positives I have found is my relationship with her children and grandchildren. Hanging out with Erica and Brock is like hanging out with all the best parts of my Monica. I miss the way Monica would always say, "Ye-ahhh" in kind of a long, drawn-out, gentle way. It was her go-to response when we were talking. Erica, Brock, and the kids went to church with me on Mother's Day. As I sat in Erica's car discussing flowers and landscaping, she responded with the same, "Ye-ahhh" that her mama always used. I could have cried. It was exactly what I needed to hear. 

I can't find anything positive about losing Chubby or Buster's heart failure. So, we will skip over that one. Sorry, I'm just not there yet. It's difficult to see my boy slow down, grow exhausted, and lie on the floor panting profusely after a short burst of excitement. I guess the fact that he is still with me is the shiny. 

The shiny side of losing our beloved market is that my summer schedule just got a lot more open and flexible. It will be nice not to have to be up at 3 a.m. on Saturday morning. It will be nice to have the time to commit to getting things done around the farm. I am already tackling the landscaping issues, cleaning up things that should have been done eons ago, and making a schedule for what needs to be cleaned, organized, and repaired. The farm is now our focus, and that brings me joy and satisfaction. 

Since we have created a very workable schedule in the soap studio, I can focus on planting flowers and trees, and I am even considering creating a small vegetable patch. I feel as though I will now have the time to do some of the things I have been wanting to do for a long time, but haven't had the time. 

Along with those ideas, Eric and Jordan want me to create videos or vlogs once a week. They think people will find our ideas, lifestyle, and projects interesting. I'm not so sure about that. I consider us pretty boring people. However, with the extra time, I want to try Jordan's ideas to build a stronger online presence. I made her promise she won't show my face. My two favorite goons also have ideas for their own online content, which is a plan I am willing to get behind. Eric is the funny, witty, and intelligent one. He makes me laugh out loud every single day with antics and wry humor. Jordan is dynamic. The girl sparkles when she's not being a moody teenager. So, I guess having the time to try new ideas is a shiny. 

With the loss of our favorite oil supplier, I am forced to step outside my comfort zone. I am looking at new companies, slowly developing ideas for new oil blends, evaluating our everyday inventory, and tweaking plans. Although I have not found a company that creates hundreds of oils that I love, I have found some good ones, and it is pushing me creatively. It's also a good thing not to have all our proverbial eggs in one basket when it comes to suppliers. So, I think that's a shiny too.

Our plans are slowly but surely coming together. We have a lot of work to do, a lot of ground to cover, literally. I ordered 2000 groundcover plugs to plant, and now we have more time to execute our plans. Overall, this year's changes have been a bit more unexpected and painful than anticipated, but there are some positive aspects. Focusing on the shiny is what helps us get through the dark spells. There is a lot of shiny in the world. 

On this lovely Monday, stay safe, be smart, look for the shiny, and keep washing your hands.