MAYBERRY MOMENTS

NOTHING SAYS "COUNTRY" LIKE LEMONADE IN A MASON JAR

ENJOY THE FRESH AIR AND GREEN GRASS

PLANTS PERK UP QUICKLY AFTER A DRINK

STOP AND SMELL THE FLOWERS

MAYBERRY - A GENTLER TIME 

My friend, Deanna, and I were talking about life the other day. We talk about life often and we always reach the same conclusion, that the days of our lives are passing quickly and we don't always take full advantage of each day. I sang her an old song about all the things I'm dealing with right now - a mother with Alzheimer's, boxes that remain unpacked after this move, a house to sell, a spouse about to retire, Mom's house to clear out and sell, the passing of my father-in-law last weekend, and the responsibility of cleaning and selling his house. Sometimes it all seems like too much. Deanna is not without challenges herself. She said there are times she wishes she could just go live in Mayberry. I agreed that would be a good solution to our woes, but since we can't live there, we'll take time for some "Mayberry Moments", a phrase Deanna coined. We each described how we could allow ourselves time out of our busy days to let go of all the things that are stressful to us - if only for a few minutes. We could go outside, water our plants, rock on our front porches, make some lemonade, or just smell the flowers and listen to the birds for a little while. Then if we must, we could return to our issues and things over which we fret. Our hope is that those carefree Mayberry  Moments will provide the breaks we need, but we're not in denial. We know we will always have some worries and sadness. We'll probably continue frittering some days away, and time will continue to pass so quickly we won't know where it went. If we can inject a few quiet and pleasant moments into what would otherwise be stressful days, we will have succeeded in revisiting Mayberry.