Lifting Your Spirits When they Seem to Be Made of Lead

A few days ago I was feeling kind of blue - which is unusual because I’m usually much more in the pink, purple and red range.  But even we peacocks have days when our eyes feel more like rain clouds, as though even the slightest provocation in the world would result in a downpour. The kind even Noah would appreciate.  What made the matter worse was that few things WEREN’T provocations!  Every song on the radio, every thought in my head, something one of my cat’s said, something another cat didn’t say.  Yep, one of those days.

It’s not that I don’t know what colored my world blue - I know perfectly well.  For all the magic and bliss that fall brings (it’s my favorite season, in fact), there is an unspoken rule, it seems, that everyone feels kind of lonesome inside for a coupld of days.  It’s a longing for people who saw fit to move on to Heaven ahead of us. Both of my parents are there - far too young to have made the move in my opinion.  My in-laws are there as well.  My husband’s sister has moved on, as well - from a sudden accident.  WAY too young to not still be alive planning her Halloween mischief and Thanksgiving menu.

I miss all of them throughout the year, of course, but somehow their absence is especially glaring during this time of year.

Anyway, I was feeling lower than a celebrity blog’s sense of humor a couple of days ago and a few things cheered me up.  Just in case you’re hit with this sort of melancholy over the next months, I thought I’d share what helped me - in the hopes that, should you need a little lift, the ideas will provide it.

First of all, oddly enough, I reminded myself of words from a movie my family and I saw recently, The Last Legion.  A young boy lost his parents and was being consoled by a character played brilliantly by Ben Kingsley.  Kingsley’s character told him that his parents weren’t really “gone,” they were just in the next room.

Simple words, yes. But the imagery and the hope they provide have, in all honesty, done more to bring peace of mind to me than thousands and thousands of others.  When I think of all of our loved ones in the next room it makes everything better.  Especially since they’re in a far superior room, with a view that’s, literally, out of this world. 

Thinking of that made me kind of smile.  Then I thought of a few people I knew in my world who were also, for various reasons, standing in the blue zone. Realizing first hand how it sucks to misplace your smile, I thought I’d try to help someone else find theirs. After all, just because mine was hiding didn’t mean I didn’t want everyone else to have theirs!  So I went to Hallmark.com and browsed through some crazy e-cards.  Then I sent one off to each with a few mushy little words.  Hallmark’s “Screaming Banshee” character had me laughing out loud, my husband asking questions, and my 18 year old cat convinced we were being invaded by flying monkeys. 

It was more than the banshee and her big ol’ mouth, of course. It was knowing that the cards would help to make someone else smile. That made me happy and, you guessed it - I found my own in the process.

I think my melancholy has passed - I’m back to filling up ghost candy dishes, rearranging scarecrows, digging out my favorite Sweet Potato Pie recipe, and OF COURSE preparing the halls to be decked in grand fashion.  But if the blues sweep down on me again, I’ll be ready.

Come to think of it, we need I want a newer, bigger, fatter Christmas tree this year.  The husband will be thrilled to know that.  Not a problem, though, I’ll just butter him up with a Sweet Potato Pie.  The way to a man’s wallet is through his stomach.  That IS the saying, isn’t it?