Back To Basics To Make Progress

We are having our kitchen completely redone.  When I write "completely," I mean the workers have removed the old drywall, plaster and furring strips from the walls and ceiling.  They have also pulled out the old electric wires as well as the old plumbing.  In addition, they've removed several layers of floor covering and revealed the original hardwood.  They are down to the basics of what used to be a kitchen since 1927 when the house was constructed.  Now they will begin the work of constructing a completely new kitchen. There are times when you have to go back to the basics in order to make progress.  Getting back to the basics can be a lot of work, takes more time and often messes are created.  Nevertheless, it is often the best thing to get back to the basics whether the basic is a new kitchen, new habits or a new attitude and way of responding to life's situations.

Keeping Focus Is Not Always Easy

My wife wanted me to go to the grocery store.  She only had a few items on her mind and I knew that we were about out of peanut butter.  From my perspective peanut butter is crucial.  When the house is about empty of peanut butter, it is really time to go to the grocery.  So, off I went to the grocery.  I like going to the grocery store because I like to watch people, in addition to gathering food items.  I watched the people as they shopped.  Some of them had a written list, others had their phones out reading a list; some folks look real carefully at an item while others just grab and move.  I got home and had purchased everything that my wife had asked me to get.  I did good.  However, she remarked that she thought I was also going to get a jar of peanut butter.  It is easy for me to loose my focus, especially when there are so many things and people around me.  Next time, I'll write peanut butter on a list.  Keeping focus is not as easy a personal discipline as it may sound.

Recognition, a hoped for reality

My wife's mother is in a nursing home in Bentonville, Arkansas.  She and the family are having to deal with her Alzheimer's disease.  It is a difficult reality when one's physical capacity out lives one's mental capacity. It has been two months since we have been able to make the trip from Kentucky so we could visit with her. When we walked into the nursing home, she looked at us for a brief time with a puzzled look, then smiled and said, "Hello."  She knew our names.  When we said that we had traveled from Kentucky, she was confused.  She didn't understand why we were in Kentucky, even though we have lived in Kentucky since 1965.  Nevertheless, she recognized us and was able to recall a few details about our family, work, etc.  Not only is it important that we're recognized, but it is also important that we are able to recognize others.  The tag line for one of my favorite television shows, was "Where everybody knows your name."