Greatest Thing Ever!

In our house, things that are good,useful, helpful or handy are dubbed “The Greatest Thing EVER!” and this comes from roughly a year ago, when Polly Purebred was a wee 4 months old. James, who had raised & trained Suzy from puppyhood, had more experience than I (my father trained all our dogs, and so I naively underestimated how much work it took). He explained to me at one point that in Polly’s world, everything that was new and cool was THE GREATEST THING EVER. Ice cubes. The Greatest! Chewing on a new toy? GREATEST! Food? OH MY GOD, let’s pass out from the excitement. Polly still loves her toys, and her favorites are the Busy Bee (NOT a bear in a bee suit) and Monster (Picture here) …. both had to undergo repairs and have done surprisingly well since then. Especially Busy Bee, she is very excited to carry him around and not shred him.

So, in honor of my enthusiastic, loving little dog, I am going to try to muster some enthusiasm myself on this dreary, cold, MONDAY, and come up with some of my own Greatest Things Ever:

1. Hot coffee, with hazelnut creamer (low carb creamer, no-less. Can I still believe I bought something with that on the label? No. But it’s rich & creamy, and I figure if it tastes good AND contains a few less calories, then I’ll succumb, despite the labeling.)

2. Hugs. Hugs from friends, hugs from loved ones, I tell ya. The world would be a slightly less frazzled place if people made sure they got hugs every day. I trained Polly to give hugs, and they’re hilarious – pat your chest and say “Hugs!” and WhOMP you have a 45# labrador standing up, pressing her head on your chest. Licking, yes, but I love her so!

3. Knitting. All the yarns, all the patterns, all the gizmos and gear – it’s a fabulous hobby that’s relaxing and productive.

4. Friends. Including my best friend in the entire universe, JWo.

You know what we all need to remember? It’s the easiest thing to forget, I think. We have entire groups of people in our lives who think WE are the Greatest Thing Ever. A work friend caught me in a dark moment last Friday and said, “Jennifer, there are so many people who respect you and think the world of you and your abilities, and you can’t ever forget that.” Which is what I do, sometimes every minute of every day, because I’m conditioned to think those sorts of thoughts are Puffery. And when too many of those minutes are spent forgetting, I find the slippery slope part of life that seems to descend and not rise back up and the dark depression demons start gathering, pointing in my direction. But the theory behind Misguided Motivation is if we think we’re Great, we won’t try harder or keep working. Gee, what would happen if I thought I was Great and I kept working? Could it be? Hm! Some semblance of Happiness and Contentment?

If there’s one thing I have learned in 36 years is that I am not the only one who feels these things, either. (You know how it was when you were 22 – NObody understood your plight. Rubbish. Everyone goes through similar stuff. Which is why I feel brave enough to put some of this into words.) So all of you out there need to remember the Greatest Thing Ever theory, too, just as I work to remember it. Some people are lucky and it comes more naturally to them. The good thing about Greatest Thing Ever is that it applies to everything, equally. From fish sticks to ice cubes, Colinette yarn to fresh pasta, and from me, to you.

Hugs.