This morning started with a trip to the toilet. While I sat there being watched by two chickens and a bunny plus my dog leaning against my knees waiting for a rump pat, I got to thinking about the past. I transferred myself into the shower, with the new shower curtain which isn't quite long enough so tries but fails to keep the water in., I thought about my mother and her telling me one day that she had spent the morning working out how many dinners she had cooked in her lifetime. This to me was proposterous and why would anyone want to know that. Back in the day when I was optimistic, motivated and young, I neither had the time or the inclination to be pondering on pointless facts which didn't enhance my working life. Now however, I have reached the age when I do wonder how many showers I have taken, how many times have I done the routine of soaping my face, ears and neck, then scrubbing my body with shower gel.
I then got to thinking about how many mornings I had got up at 5.30am, showered, had breakfast, got the children up, driven them to their drop of place, then driven to work. How many times had I answered the phone saying "Good morning Bishop's Heather speaking"? Our lives are full of repartition, there are only a handful of people who can say their days are never the same with no repartition at all from one day to the next.
My days are now full of a different kind of reparation. I get up let the cats out, put rabbit out, let the goats out, let the chickens out, let the geese out, let the dog out, feed one chicken oregano oil, clean another with disinfectant, wash kittens eyes, feed and clean out kitten nursery , feed quails, feed various birds in various places, fill up many water buckets, sweep floor, make bread, clean kitchen, vacuum , spray cupboard for ants, spray door with fly repelant put washing on, search for missing kitten who escaped and finally have a coffee and get dressed.
I am adding to my list of 'to do's' , sorting donations for my imminent sale. This sale is to raise money for the kittens I have taken on. Abandoned kittens who every year struggle and often die if it wasn't for kind people taking them in and getting them sterilised so the population doesn't explode any more than it already does.
Anyway my rough calculation of how many showers/baths I've had in my life time comes to around 20,000. I am starting to appreciate the pondering of pointless facts and the shock of the enormity of the figures arrived at. I leave my pondering there as I totally refuse to calculate how many poos I have collected on the farm, or how many feeds I have given, or how many kittens I have bottle fed and going back to the past, how many clients I have cared for, how many job sheets I have created, how many lines of washing I've hung up or even how many shoes I've put on. These facts and figures can wait until I am a bit older.
I think we all have a inbuilt optimism and motivation, some more than others. This enables us to do the same things day in day out for years and years without even questioning it.
So next time you are sitting on the toilet patting a dogs bottom with a chicken staring at you, give a thought to how many times you have done just that (if ever) and do you want to change things a bit, make life a bit more random and interesting. Take yourself on an adventure of the unknown with no routine, nothing expected and anything goes. Wear odd socks, go without a bra, change your morning routine, make time to see the world, have unforgettable experiences and most of all don't count how many times you've done something.
Go mix it up a bit
Peace and love from the funny farm X
