Stop and Smell the Zinnias

Today is Monday.

I don’t know about you, but in my world, Monday is a day to be angry.  On Sunday evening, a darkness descends and the dreaded “Monday Blues” creep in overnight.  By the time daylight rolls around, I’ve hit the snooze button three times and pulled the sheets over my head, avoiding breakfast, laundry, work,  grocery shopping, cooking, exercising, phone calls, emails, bills, thank you notes, ironing, errands…

Poor Monday.  All the regrets of the weekend pile up as I turn the key in the car’s ignition: the tasks left undone, the adventures left unexplored, the food left uneaten and sitting in the back of the refrigerator only to be discovered three weeks later looking like a magnificent science project.

Everyone else is angry on Mondays too.  Drivers honking their horns and cutting each other off on the highway.  People waiting in line with packages at the Post Office.  The cashier checking groceries in the supermarket.  Co-workers.  Parents.  Significant others.  Even Blue, the farm dog, mopes when the family leaves for work.

But this Monday, I’ve decided to be different.  When I feel the urge to succumb to a pity party at my desk or on the verge of breaking down into tears of frustration, I am going to think of the happy zinnias in JUP Mama’s garden.  I will breathe deeply and remember their blooms bobbing brightly in the April breeze.  (And remember how much I love alliteration!)  Only a few months ago, they were tiny heirloom seeds in paper packets that arrived in my mail box and with a little water, a lot of sunshine, and JUP Mama’s TLC, they’ve exploded into a fireworks show of red, yellow, orange, magenta, pink, and white.

Instead of letting Monday be consumed by my anxieties and disappointments, bitter over the things I lack or have not yet accomplished, I’m going to focus on the little miracles of life that are these flowers.

I’m going stop and smell the zinnias (because everyone knows roses don’t grow in South Florida).

xo,

JUP Girl