By Lynda Shadbolt
It was a cool Saturday.
I pulled on my Long Johns, my work pants, wool socks, a couple of layers of tops and a sweater, an old coat, mitts and a hat. I was ready to spend the afternoon by the lake making maple syrup with my husband Jim, and our friends (P and M) who share their sugar bush with us.
Our dog, Billie Rose, came with us because she is always a good friend to have along. We got out there, the fire was blazing and the syrup was bubbling away.
We hung out for a bit, chit chatting and feeding the fire. So simple and so relaxing. We had the radio on, and Dan Sullivan began his “Saturday Escape” program.
The theme was novelty songs. As the show progressed we turned the music up and danced our hearts out as we fed the fire and filled the evaporator.
A couple of times, P and I got into his truck to go empty the sap buckets. We were singing with every song.
Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road. Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. The Candy Man! We laughed when Jean Neville called in My Boomerang Won’t Come Back, I had never heard the song before, but P knew it and had stories about his family and the song.
At one point, for about an hour big huge snowflakes fell and it was so pretty and we happily worked and sang.
The song Always Look on the Bright Side of Life came on, and as we carried heavy buckets of sap along the road, I couldn’t help but think that P and M always look on the bright side of life. If you know them, you know what I mean. P and M look for goodness.
As William Prince says in his song “Keep to the path that carries the light,” P and M are on that path. It’s just so easy to be with people who are positive, uplifting, joyful and fun.
Recently I dug out my gratitude journal, and I’ve been starting my day with at least five things I am grateful for. In the ancient wisdom traditions, they talk about the importance of “gladdening our minds” every day and how that helps with our mental health, our relationships and our overall well-being.
Gratitude is good for the heart! I think the idea is that you have a basic foundation of gratitude and then anything that comes to you in your day is held by gratitude, by love.
The easy things and the more challenging things. We are all given challenges and we are all given movements of delight and love and joy and happiness.
When these beautiful moments come your way, stop and really feel and absorb them and let them fill you up. As we sang and did our sap dance (eventually the novelty songs ended and Dan switched to songs for St. Patrick’s Day), I couldn’t help but wonder how many people in our county were dancing and singing along with Dan, maybe even boiling their sap.
I am sure many people were sending him and Canoe FM gratitude. There are so many ways each of us can share our light.
All the light helps and matters.
