Taking the trash out

The other day I noticed Geoff taking out the trash. I commented how nice it was that he was well enough to take the trash out, and mentioned the days in France when I took the trash out every day. Then in that moment of reflection, in one flash of an instant, I could see how valuable that mundane task was to my overall sanity while in France.

Geoff was sick and on doctor's orders to have "no responsibility" and I was taking the bulk of the load of family life, in addition to homeschooling for the first time...in a foreign country where I didn't speak the language or have any resources of any kind. It was an overwhelming challenge most days.

Every day I took the trash up the 122 stairs to our trash bin. It wasn't one of my favorite jobs.



In recollection, though, I remembered turning around to descend to the house and seeing this...


A camera can't capture the breathtaking beauty of this view, with Italy just a mile to the left with its beautiful mountains and cliffs, and colorful old town Menton to the right, and the wide, clear view of the Mediterranean spread out with its sparkly blue expansiveness. I would stop every day and take it in, and I would think to myself, "This may be a challenging time, but it is a challenging time in paradise!" Suddenly I went from feeling beaten down and tired to alive and full of gratitude for the absolute gift it was to be where we were. It was simply having a larger perspective that changed how I was feeling. Looking back, what seemed like a burden at the time was really what kept me going every day, and grateful every day for what was so amazing in our lives.

I don't have that amazing view anymore, and new burdens have replaced the old ones, but the principles of perspective remain: pausing a moment, opening my view, and being grateful...every day. Grateful even for the mundane tasks that may seem dreadful right now, but someday we may look back, with new perspective, and see how they sustained us.