We Complain When Our Lives are Really Easy

We all complain. It's just part of human nature I guess. We complain about how cold it is, that it's snowing, no rain, too sunny, not enough money in the bank when someone else just got a raise; others are finding pink slips this Christmas season instead of a regular check while large corporation heads pick up yet another bonus check; we complain because we have to cook, while others are struggling just to find enough to eat for the day.

If you really look at what we complain about, it all boils down to nothing really. Someone, somewhere has it way worse than we have it now. So where did today's topic come from you ask, I mean, you must think about, where does she get these ideas for posts anyway right?

Well today's post is courtesy of my lunch conversation today with a dear friend of mine that I have known for over 7 years now. She is involved in my life so much, she is part of our family. She has been like a second mother to my daughters at times and we've seen it other at some of our lowest moments. That in my opinion makes a true friend. Plus, like she put it as we were saying 'Goodbye' today, that no matter how long in between our conversations or visits, Facebook posts or just finding some way to communicate, there is never any guilt associated with, "You know it's been (insert length of time here) since we last talked, how come you don't talk to me anymore?" Between us two, we pick right back up where we left off, no guilt needed. That's priceless in my book!

So while we were having lunch today, a variety of topics came up with one of them being the number one thing we hate to do when it comes to housework, her's is a tie between folding laundry and cleaning the bathroom, while mine was cleaning the shower and tub. As we get older, it's harder to get down and really give the showers and tubs the cleaning they desperately need before the old hammer and chisel is needed. I'm sure you get my point.

When she began telling me just how much she hated folding clothes, I laughed and said, "WOW! think about us sitting here complaining about laundry. I mean what is really involved between getting it to our machines, sorting it, adding the detergents and fabric softeners and pushing a combination of buttons, then switching said wash load into dryer and pushing more buttons. Hard to believe, we are sitting here complaining about this!" We both laughed, yet if you really think about it, how hard is it really? Compared to people who don't have the luxury of a washing machine or dryer, who have to do it by hand?

When you really consider it all, there isn't anything to complain about. All the modern conveniences we take for granted, from our computers, to social networking sites, we complain when it takes too long or it's too slow, when in reality, it's pretty darn fast compared to the old way of doing things.

It just made us both stop and really think about the things we complain about when people all around us are barely making ends meet and are hanging on my a thread. Makes you really reconsider all the complaining we do and start to think about ways we can help others if we can. Perhaps its a simple phone call or a card to let someone we haven't talked to in awhile, know we are thinking about them. Perhaps it's finding the time to take a great friend to lunch and really letting them know how much they mean to you. Time is too priceless to waste time and I hope this post touched you in some small way. I'd love to hear your comments!

By the way, I am running a Christmas Card Exchange if anyone is interested. Simply click on the Christmas card picture at the top of my side bar for details. I didn't realize it wasn't working before. Simply email me and let me know you want to participate and I'll include you.

Also an update to yesterday's blog post about my pictures of my painted villages, I forgot to include them so they are below for those of you that asked. In addition, today's photo is my submission to the day 6 photo challenge, "Candy Cane or 5!" This is made of jingle bells and is part of our home decor we've had for quite some time. I love putting it up every year! This are individually hand-painted by our family!