Shifting Gears

With the help of my daughters-in-law, we wrapped up the August canning season last week. Pears will come in by Labor Day but that won't amount to much. It seemed strange to not have any canning or freezing to do this week but I was not twiddling my thumbs. I shifted right into the next season along with the children who headed back to school this week. 

My schedule no longer revolves around the school year but each season has its own domestic chores to keep a household running smoothly. When the end of August rolls around it's time to start the fall housecleaning. I begin with scrubbing the front porch and enclosed patio behind the house while it is still warm enough to be slopping with the hose. 

Today was the day to begin with the front porch. I didn't realize until I started scrubbing how much mildew had grown there. It's been a very wet summer and I should have known. I expect I'll find a lot more of the black stuff inside the house as I get to it later. At any rate, the front porch is clean now and looks like it's been to the dentist to get its pearly whites shined.

As I was scrubbing I was thinking about how there's never a time when I have nothing to do. Finish one job and the next one is waiting. Just as canning comes to an end, housecleaning begins. I was reminded of what my my sister-in-law's mother once said. She raised a family of sixteen children and then adopted three more. And after that she kept foster babies until she was 80. Someone once asked her how she managed the work of raising such a large family. Her answer was simple but profound. "Just do the next thing."

Life is a series of things that need to be done in a daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal pattern. What those things are will vary with our age and interests. We can get bogged down and frustrated when there are more things that need to be done than we have time to accomplish. I know because I've been there, done that. But what I couldn't do in one day always waited for the next and eventually it all got done somehow. My mother used to say, "Tomorrow is another day, and if it isn't, it won't matter."

So as we stand on the verge of fall which brings a change of seasons and schedules, take to heart some good advice from two wise women. Just "do the next thing." And if you don't have enough time to finish everything on your list for the day, "Tomorrow is another day, and if it isn't, it won't matter."