Letter from Key West, April 26 2020

CVS have reduced all their Easter stock so I snaffled some peanut butter cups, some lindt chocolate and some PEEPS! Why the capital letters??  Because they are an unknown in Ireland and intrigue me so much.  Like didn't we have enough goodness, and sweetness, at Easter with all that chocolate?  Well, it appears not, someone came along and said, heck no, have some lurid coloured, sugary marshmallow while you're at it. 



 

Right, well who am I, to argue with that?

 

*******************************************

 

 

Things I am thankful for right now:

 

1. Fresh, clean bed linen. 

I did some chores yesterday, which included laundry of our bed sheets. Simply nothing like it.

 

 





Temperatures are going up here in Key West.  We have started using our AC and literally have two sheets as covers at night.

 

2. A healthy and happy relationship

I've grown a lot over the last couple of years, slash decade....ok, so, slash two decades. Yes it took time but I can confirm it was worth the wait. 

 

A couple of years ago, I remember meeting up with visiting friends to Dublin, an older (and clearly wiser) couple.  With drinks in hand, and sitting by a fire in the Library bar of the Exchequer Hotel I beseeched them for the answer to happiness in love.  Ok, truth be told. I whined to them. "How? how do you do it? how do I do it?? How, when you want to absolutely kill the other person, how do you avoid that turning in to a big massive argument? Howwww?"  

 

The advice they gave me was "we just laugh about things".  At the time I struggled.  How could one laugh about something, when you felt so passionate about it, when you just KNEW you were right and the other person was wrong? 



But slowly over the years, I realized it was great advice. I also realized it was ME who was in control of my happiness, not the other person.  I started thinking about me and what I could do differently, ok so I didn't laugh every time, but I certainly started breathing and thinking more. Thinking things like, is this really important to be "right" about?  Is this really the one thing that I want to hang my hat on today? Really....reeeeeeeally???  The answer invariably, tended to be no. 

I guess it's a variation of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, or something like that??  All I can say is, it definitely feels a lot better to be the person that I am now.

And as for the laughter?  Well that came too.  And maybe that is to do with the other person, as well as me.  God damnit he is funny! God damnit he makes me laugh about something every single day!

And you know, I like to think that I make him laugh too.

For this, and a million other reasons, it just works.

And for that I am grateful.