Be careful what you wish for!
This little whisper of wisdom came to me this weekend while I was crouched in a most unflattering position, weeding my flower garden.
I was hot, too hot. The heat first hit me when I stepped out on my front step to grab the newspaper. Ouch! The wooden boards burned the soles of my feet and I found myself doing this quick little dance people sometimes do when they have to hurry to the bathroom.
It is true. It was hot.
In fact, this weekend, Mother Nature held a massive heat wand in her hand, waving it relentlessly over us all. The shimmering heat sent some poor souls, drenched in sweat, scurrying to some place, any place that was cool.
But, not me.
No, siree! Not me.
I decided I was going to weed my flower garden.
Armed with long lost sunglasses that were hiding in the lost and found corner of my junk drawer, a golf hat that once was pink and really expensive face cream with that stuff in it that is supposed to keep the sun and wrinkles away, I began to weed.
And as I dug into the black earth rather viciously with my little three-pronged gardening tool and dripped sweat all over my sweet little gold marigolds, deep purple wave petunias and delicate white alyssum, I thought unhappy thoughts.
“This is terrible. I’m so hot. I’m not happy.” And then I thought again. Same thought!
Of course that’s when the little voice inside my head, which always has an annoying way of interrupting bad thoughts,” chirped in.
Be careful what you ask for,” it said, all chirpy and happy!
“Shut up little voice,” I said.
That’s when I remembered winter.
“Brrrr! It’s so cold. I’m freezing. I wish it would warm up.”
Who said those words?
Okay, it was me.
And now it’s warmed up.
So shut up already, I said to self.
And so I did.
I sat on the beach later, happily breathing in summer. One of my girls sat beside me and we watched her kids walk out in the water, way out, until they became little specks.
We looked at each other and decided the specks were too far away so we jumped in the lake.
The water in Sylvan Lake is weird. It is cold and then it is warm and then it is cold again. Mostly, it is cold.
We waded out to the specks until they became a boy and a girl.
I smiled at their mom. There they are. Safe. “Don’t go out so far,” she yelled, relieved enough to be angry.
We turned to wade back to shore, but for just one moment, time did a u-turn. Her words, caught in the waves, drifted back to me.
I looked at this grown up lady beside me, but I didn’t see her. Instead I saw this tiny girl with blonde pigtails and eyes that matched the colour of the sky, her aqua blue bathing suit and the lake.
“Don’t go out so far,” I yelled. “Stay safe! Please, stay safe.”
The present returns and I notice that someone has smashed the yellow ball of sun really hard and now it is nothing but a splash of fire spilling out of the sky and into the water, turning it into liquid gold.
It is still very hot.
I strive to think more deep thoughts, wondering if I could be very wise, after all.
But, for now, deep thoughts elude me.
Mostly, I’m just happy!