Joy Overcomes Rules

Sometimes you’ve just got to let go of some of your rules (no Christmas before Thanksgiving, don’t turn to stuff for happiness…). Mom just loves Christmas (she has no Christmas boundaries!), and I got her a new twinkly white tree last weekend. She spent the next few days fluffing it up and adding some ornaments, but she needed one more thing—a beaded garland. When I told her I was coming to get her to take her to the Christmas place, she got all dressed in red and silver and was giddy when I arrived at her house.

She got a pumpkin donut on the way to balance holidays and she kept saying, “This is the best dinner I ever had!” and giggling. Then we spent hours walking up and down the isles while she touched, marveled over and imagined the use of EVERYTHING. At first she would look at something and say, “Oh, I don’t need that.” I finally convinced her to treat herself because she had money from birthday celebrations 90 and 91 that she kept refusing to use. And all of the sudden, Mom let go of her own rule of resisting indulgence and the joy from stuff allowance was broken wide open!

When she liked something, I would just put it in the cart. “Oh, Kimmy! You’re terrible,” she would say. Then she started doing it on her own—in multiples! My dogs were barkin’, but Mom’s joy and energy were so big, I just let them carry me. She confessed to the cashier that she never spends money like this and declared her favorite purchase of all to be a fluffy, silky soft, white squirrel that she kept hugging.

It was late and I was starving, so we got a “real” dinner from a drive through and sat in the car eating and talking about her memory and our memories. Mom saved half of her sandwich and part of her French fries and took them home to dad along with a pumpkin donut. Now she’ll have lingering joy for the next several days while she arranges and rearranges her new treasures until everything is placed to please. And I have the day off and can stay in bed as long as I like and trust that there is still joy to be had in this world, even if you have to break a few rules to find it.