Antidote

I have been really down lately.

Like “lay in my bed watching 3 hours of Keeping Up with the Kardashians while my kids run around the house doing whatever they want” down.

Like “have fish, corn on the cob and fresh cantaloupe to make for dinner, but call my husband at 6 pm and ask him to bring home In-N- Out because I can’t face making dinner” down.

Like”piles of clean clothes to sort, counters to clear off, stacks of paper to go through, bathrooms to clean, but read other people’s blogs instead” down.

And that was just yesterday.

Plus our family had calendared to go help a single mom in our neighborhood with her yard last night.  She was in charge of Girls Camp for our ward which takes so much time and her mom died the week before.  Some wise ladies organized a yard clean-up while she was away at camp to help ease some of her load when she returned.

I initially really wanted to help because, although I don’t know what it is like to be a single mom, I do know what it takes to pull off Girls Camp, a funeral, and have a big yard.  Anyone one of those jobs is draining and overwhelming, let alone all three.

But when it was about time to go, my head hurt, my body ached, and I was sad because the Kardashian girls are so disrespectful to their parents. Plus Chad wasn’t feeling well either.  We rationalized that we were all a little under the weather and that we had too much to do around our own home.

As we sat around eating our take-out hamburgers, Elle reminded us of our service plan for the evening.

Chad and I both began to stir. After a moment Chad said, “We can do this.  Let’s go.”   And I agreed, “She could really use our help…  Plus service is supposed to make you feel better, right?”

We hopped in the car with all the kids 10 minutes later.

Our neighbor’s yard was big and overgrown.  There was much to do.  So we weeded, dug, shoveled, and raked for almost 2 hours.  And we chatted with all the other ladies that were there helping.

By the end of the night my headache was gone, my body didn’t hurt, and I had no desire to watch the last episode of the Kardashians that I had DVRed.  It felt good to see our friend’s yard whip into shape.  It felt good to reconnect with ladies from my neighborhood. I felt blessed to have such a helpful, competent husband (he was the only man there and he worked circles around the rest of us).  I felt proud of Elle for being so helpful.

When we got home, I made watermelon smoothies for everyone and Chad showered the kids.

Our spirits were UP. My spirits were UP.

Last night was a good reminder that service really is an antidote for feeling down.  And helping someone else always helps you in return.