Thoughts of a Mrs. Modern-Day Mountain Woman Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Spend some time smoking your pipe.

When we were kids growing up in Illinois, we would play a hide and seek tag game in the evening when it would start to get dark. The person who was “it” would sit on the front porch and chant, “I’m going uptown to smoke my pipe, and I won’t be back till Saturday night, and don’t let the old witch get you!” The “it” would then make one loop of the house and be “transformed” into the old witch who would try to find and tag all of the other participants. It was a fun, although odd, game to play! I remember mainly thinking about how weird it would be to head uptown to smoke a pipe, although it really just meant getting together with friends.

Later in life, my mom and sisters would want to go shopping. I never enjoyed shopping for clothes, there were too many choices and I had to be inside all day instead of playing outside. Luckily for me, my dad hated shopping just as much. We would rush through our shopping (or let Mom do the shopping for us) and go and have coffee together. Those impromptu coffee dates are some of my favorite memories and some of the most special moments spent with my dad. While we weren’t taking “smoke breaks”, we were taking a much-needed coffee break!

Taking the time to smoke a hot dog with Grandpa.

Bill Watterson once said, “We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are.” I believe we should all take time during our day, to do nothing more than sit down and enjoy a rest, be it a cup of coffee, or just a bit of quiet. Too often we look for what we have to do next for this day or the next, that we don’t enjoy what is happening around us at the moment. In the Bible, in Psalm 46:10, it is written, “Be still and know that I am God…” Take time every day to still yourself, to rest, and to know that the bigger picture in life is God and His presence. In life, this is not an easy task. Many days are spent rushing from one place to another or doing too many tasks at once. Try, every day, to take just a moment for yourself. One solitary cup of coffee, or a cup shared with a friend, can put the whole day into a beautiful perspective.