Patience above! We spent all of yesterday tidying up the house in anticipation of a visit from Brother #4 et. al. this Thursday. While Someone shampooed all the rugs I moved the back porch furniture out into the yard to give all a thorough cleaning and dusting. Who can say when the carpets were last cleaned and was last October when I last minded the patio furniture? Oh the horror. It was some job; it took all day. Last night before crashing I sat outside in the now-cleaned porch area and felt good about my industry.
I am starting each day now with the expressions “Amor fati” and “Momento Mori”. Amor fati is Latin “love of one’s fate”.* It is an attitude in which one sees everything that happens in one’s life including loss and suffering as something that can be embraced to teach something. Even bad things can have meaning derived from then.
Memento mori is Latin for for ‘remember that you [have to] die’. This keeps me on my toes and don’t delay the good things and put ‘drama’ into perspective.
They make a curious couple these two, almost a paradox: I embrace the day with all it has as I think upon my mortally.
I brought back from Michigan a black metal recipe box which I thought was my mother’s but upon careful inspection the contents are her mother’s. Most of the recipes were not worth keeping – a disappointment – or my mother had passed them onto me already. Curious! Grandmother wrote her recipes or pasted newspaper clippings on the back of whatever pieces of paper were at hand. One was a stylish card requesting an RSVP for a wedding reception. It turns out it was for my parent’s wedding; Father recognized it right away when I read it to him. I will keep this card although the recipe on its back – for baked beans! – is of no value.
Today we have to put back all the furniture we moved about for shampooing the rugs. As the main bed was piled up we slept in the guest room A.K.A. The Dragon Room, with its quaint queen-size bed. We both like space in a bed, preferring a radius of 300 miles between me and the next one, so it was rather snug, especially when you add a pooch that is not used to sleeping in The Dragon Room. The night resembled the Indi-Pakastani border as to which nation claims the no-man’s land in the middle. I daresay we will sleep soundly tonight when the proper bed is back in place.
*Latin-scholars and clever-dicks are welcome to correct me if needed.
35 comments
March 28, 2021 at 7:18 AM
David Godfrey
Enjoy each day, don’t let the unimportant get in the way, and most of it is unimportant. Sleep in the big beds.
March 28, 2021 at 3:10 PM
Urspo
the bigger the better.
March 28, 2021 at 8:47 AM
Robzilla, Native of Slam Diego
Never delay the good things. That’s why I baked tater tots to go with my breakfast omelet this morning. And ketchup, too!
March 28, 2021 at 3:11 PM
Urspo
Love me some breakfast! Good for you!
March 28, 2021 at 8:54 AM
Debra She Who Seeks
Hahahahaha, the baked beans recipe on the back of your parents’ wedding reception RSVP card! Talk about the sacred and the profane, eh?
March 28, 2021 at 3:11 PM
Urspo
I’m guessing she had leftover cards and rather than throw them out use them for whatever needed an index card. Good for her!
March 28, 2021 at 8:56 AM
Debra She Who Seeks
And P.S., in my experience, the bad things in life carry the most meaning and most valuable lessons, although it may take a few years to understand it and accept it.
March 28, 2021 at 3:12 PM
Urspo
let us hop we learn sooner than not.
March 28, 2021 at 9:03 AM
Lori
Thank you, I loved this post! It is good to realize that we can learn from everything and it’s always wise to remember our time here is limited. In Omnia Paratus is one of my favorites.
March 28, 2021 at 3:12 PM
Urspo
Thank you.
I had to look that up; I learned something !
March 28, 2021 at 9:16 AM
anne marie in philly
another spo family memento; cherish it.
March 28, 2021 at 3:14 PM
Urspo
I am not certain what to do with it. The cards I can compact into the recipe index box of my mother’s. Now the black box can be used fro something else.
March 28, 2021 at 9:21 AM
Todd Gunther
I must remember “amor fati.” I never realized that there might be a term for my way of thinking about life. Thank you for the education.
March 28, 2021 at 3:14 PM
Urspo
It is a Stoic expression. I was recently reminded me when Edison’s lab burned down he said this , explaining it now gives him something to do viz. build a better lab.
March 28, 2021 at 10:09 AM
Bob Slatten
I kinda love the idea of the Baked Beans recipe on the back of her daughter’s wedding RSVP!!
March 28, 2021 at 3:15 PM
Urspo
Curious the baked bean recipe is so basic , nothing special. I wonder if it was based on harder times when resources were limited.
March 28, 2021 at 11:00 AM
Parnassus
Well, in Boston no stationery could be too fine or important for a treasured Baked Bean recipe.
–Jim
March 28, 2021 at 3:16 PM
Urspo
I should hope not !
March 28, 2021 at 11:03 AM
Old Lurker
When Brother #4 arrives you should treat him to a smorgasboard of your grandmother’s Midwestern delicacies, including of course the baked beans. Fine cuisine is an important factor in enticing houseguests to visit again.
March 28, 2021 at 3:16 PM
Urspo
Brother #4 is a wiz at grilling. He is proud of his abilities. I pulled out and cleaned the Weber grill. I hope he will treat me rather with tasty grilled yummies which I will get with relish
March 28, 2021 at 11:06 AM
Moving with Mitchell
Although I have a clever dick, I’m not a Latin scholar. So, I’ll take your word for it.
March 28, 2021 at 3:18 PM
Urspo
Clever dick: a person who is clever in a way that is annoying. That doesn’t sound at all like you. Perhaps you are more of a smart-ass? hohoho
March 28, 2021 at 1:25 PM
Gigi Rambles
I knew about memento mori but had never heard of the other. It does seem a good way to live your life. I will be borrowing that phrase to ponder to my days.
March 28, 2021 at 3:18 PM
Urspo
I suppose the gist of it is to take whatever happens as OK, we can learn from this, make an opportunity from this, rather than dwell on lost/sorrow or deficit.
March 28, 2021 at 3:25 PM
Sam
What great efforts. I need your energy.
March 28, 2021 at 3:42 PM
Urspo
It’s Sunday night and we both have no energy left. It’s a lot of work this weekend 😊
March 28, 2021 at 4:30 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
I am intrigued by the recipes. Please don’t throw them out.
March 28, 2021 at 4:34 PM
Urspo
Many were gelatin-based salads, with mayonnaise or cottage cheese. No thank you. Several were simple things in any cookbook; most of the ‘good ones’ were already in my mother’s box. This left a few ‘gems’ worth trying. One is a raisin sauce for ham; another is ‘Chinese Mandarin chicken” made with tinned mandarin organes and soy sauce. I will try these.
March 29, 2021 at 4:02 AM
Ron
Ah, one’s fate and we all must die someday. Something I’ve been giving a lot of thought too these waning days of my existence. I am glad for another day to ponder these thoughts.
March 29, 2021 at 6:55 AM
Urspo
Good for you for taking this approach!
March 29, 2021 at 4:14 PM
Blobby
i heartily concur – baked beans are of NO value.
March 29, 2021 at 10:04 PM
Urspo
Especially that recipe
March 29, 2021 at 4:26 PM
Pipistrello
I’m often guilty of making guerrilla raids into Mr. P’s territory at night.
March 30, 2021 at 9:45 AM
Urspo
Do you win?
April 1, 2021 at 12:21 AM
Paul Brownsey
Have you ever read Muriel Spark’s novel, “Memento Mori”? One of my regular reads. About a group of elderly people plagued by mysterious phone calls where an unknown voice just says, “Remember you must die.” (Nowadays it would say, “This is Amazon Prime. Your subscription has not been paid. Press 1 and enter your bank details.”)