Tikkun Olam

Shabbat was very quiet.  A good quiet.  I did not have the energy to go to shul, so I just relaxed at home.  I sat outside in our still-in-progress patio, under our pretty (-and tearing) striped umbrella, and had a hot cup of coffee on our glass round umbrella table.  I listened to the breeze rustling the leaves of the tree next door, in the adjoining patio.  I watched the clouds slowly roll by in the azure blue sky.  I watched our herbs grow.  Really. Could see them inching up...almost... That is a simple pleasure. Just sitting, drinking coffee, watching the clouds, and the herbs. Just appreciating being alive.

It should be the other way around, right? The mother is active, involved and encourages her daughter to DO stuff--to be outgoing, committed to a cause or a passion, to help others.  With me and my daughter--the one with RSD/CRPS who's in a wheelchair for a year and a half, it's the other way around. My daughter influences me .  You see, I'm lazy by nature.  My favorite activity is doing nothing .  What I mean by that is, my favorite activities are more sedentary; like reading, or singing, or playing Words with Friends and Scrabble, or watching a movie.  For example, I love a well-kept and cultivated garden.  I love the colors of the flowers, the order they are in, the straight edges of the flower beds (or curved-they just have to be clean-cut, and neat), the rich grass around them, deep green, evenly mowed and beautiful.  I love plants: the various varieties in their little pots, or in the ground, well taken care of, watered regularly, and fed, like...