Yes, I know, I have told you to do it for spite. And you know, if you can't muster love, then duty, need or spite will do.
But if you can do what you do out of love, it really works better.
I'm one of those people who tends to get lost. Mostly because I have ADD, but also because I get depressed. And when I get depressed, I can -- sometimes -- still produce, but I don't enjoy it, it's a slog, and forcing myself to work makes me more and more depressed.
Which you could call "the story of 2023." It got briefly better when we adopted Indy and Helena, littermate orange kittens. It just did. But then Helena died, and we still don't know why, and I went right back into a morass of depression, which had a lot of other contributors, including two deaths in the family, moving out of my beloved homeland of the heart, etc. etc. etc.
We did go back to Colorado this summer, and it helped. Although it can no longer be mine (the auto-immune flare up when we crossed back up to altitude was spectacular, and I'm glad we only stayed five days, because of that) it's good to know it's still there, and some trends have gotten better, even if it's still held captive of fraud-by-mail.
But it somehow wasn't enough. Well, these last two weekends have been very busy, and this week I've been fighting some kind of sinus infection, but the spirits just keep lifting.
This is because Celia Hayes (Sargent Mom) very kindly allowed Indy's parents to have another hot date before fixing, and they produced a litter of seven.
Two weekends ago we went to get all seven, since they were our responsibility, and last weekend we drove around like a deranged kitten fairy, giving them to their permanent people, where to be fair, they will be very happy.
This involved of course prying them out of Dan's hands, because he wants to keep them all.
Now we're done to two. Circe, who doesn't look like Helena (maybe that's good) but is a little orange girl cat and very smart and perhaps too persistent. (If she were a boy her name would already be Harry for Houdini) and Toast, second of her name, who like Cedar Sanderson's Toast (first of her name) is a flame point siamesish.
Toast 2.0 is promised to friends, but.... well.... she loves me a lot, and Dan says we should keep her. I told him if he really wants her he should negotiate for her. So far he hasn't, so likely we'll let her go to her new people. Which, yes, will hurt, but then again, perhaps be best for all of us in the long run? I mean, we're sixty one, and five cats are a lot, particularly since Havey and Valeria are 14 and have kidney issues. (Then again-- Sigh. I really like the little trouble maker.)
Anyway, the last two weeks have been turmoil filled, and I've had to do a lot of things I'd rather not, and yet, I feel better. (Yes, chapters are coming to substack. It's been the busy, not the depressed preventing it.)
Why?
Well, as I explained at Mad Genius Club just a few minutes ago, it's like introvert versus extrovert.
Both can go to a party or a conference and be good while there. But the introvert will come home and crash. The extrovert wants to go go go forever.
It's the same some things please you, some things don't, but nothing fills the well like doing it for love. Whether it's writing, cooking, cleaning the house (which I desperately need to do since family get together is here this year) or looking after helpless kittens and children.
If you do it for love, it will fill the well. Whatever your well is.
And while we live in a screwed up world, and everything we do can't be for love, try to do some things for love in the middle of what you must do, and what you can do, and what others expect you to do.
Trust me, it will make everything better, if now and then you do something for love. It should deplete you, because you're adding work. But somehow it doesn't. Perhaps because, as dad puts it, "He who runs for love doesn't tire." But more importantly, doing anything for love revives you.
Go do something for love today, and like -- Per RAH's advice, your budget should include the frivolities first -- budget your time so you can do something for love on the regular.
And now I go clean this pigsty. For love.
This year, I'm very thankful for loving my family, including my sons' ladies. It wasn't a given, but I'm grateful I do. Because love recharges and revitalizes.
And for these two -- too -- I'm heartily thankful:
Circe, the redhead, and Toast 2.0 the siamesish:
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