It is as if my entire day has been choreographed from start to finish. Not that it has finished, but so many details have been simply absurd. There have been more, but I will share with you a story of my husband, gratitude, and momentum.
I hope he will not get too fussy about my writing his personal details. I’ll make up for it if he does, but either way this is a story to be shared!
Funny, I wrote this in an email regarding my husband today…
Do you know that my husband eats factory-farmed meat sometimes? Yeah, he’s now switched to farm eggs. Yeah, he’s switched to farm cheese. But the meat is harder to find. Yet he still chooses it.
And yet I love that man so much it’s absurd. He’s grumpy sometimes. He gets fussy sometimes. lol! Probably the meat clouding his judgment. He’s a real pain in my bum at times too. But then I just wrap my arms around him and give him a big smooch and tell him to stop annoying me. He usually melts like butter with smooches.
And then, funny as it was, right after writing that, I showed up at his cafe/restaurant/bar to steal some green smoothie love from him.
When I got there he was grumpy and pensive. He’s had a lot of those moments lately. See, the thing is that he bought this cafe with a specific goal in mind: to help people. He wanted to offer green smoothies to small town Brazil, and he felt this was the place to do it. Actually, it fell into his lap.
The truth is, we are otherwise mostly strangers to debt. Our house is paid. Our car is paid. We worked to make it happen, and we are thrilled to live rent- and mortgage-free. But the cafe? Not even close! Not only does he have the monthly expenses of his inventory, wages, taxes, and rent… he also has to pay more than all of that combined as part of the agreement to buy the cafe. He has extra money to pay for a full 10 months.
It’s a lot of money.
In fact, he is working his behind off to lose money every month. He has taken a side job to make sure to keep it all moving forward, so he’s working A LOT. Every day we rest for sleep then start again. He sees BILLS BILLS BILLS. WORK WORK WORK.
I look around and see: green smoothies in hand. I walk around and hear: the buzz of green smoothies. I look in front of me and see: this man who I adore and trust with my very life. I see this cafe as: a gift, one we did not have the savings to pay all at once. Once that: fell into our laps. The right laps. I feel in my growing belly: a life coming into a world full of love and gratitude.
So I told him so. I told him this in an empty cafe, where he sat with his calculator. I kid you not. I looked in his eyes and said,
I love you! Even when you are grumpy. Don’t you see that?! I think you’re the coolest person around. Look around you! You have a pretty lady who adores you. A cafe that is selling HEALTH to people who need it. Friends who adore you… HEALTH for yourself!If you look for PROBLEMS PROBLEMS PROBLEMS, you will find them! They are everywhere.
But if you look for ALL THE THINGS TO APPRECIATE, oh there are SO MUCH MORE than the problems. Open yourself up to the joy and love all around you. Open yourself up to feel GOOD about what you are doing in the world. All you have to do is look in front of you, and you will find joy!
He did not see it. I decided to leave with a smile, and with love, but without my usual green smoothie. I didn’t want to hang out anymore to play the “Woe is Me” game. It’s the least fun game I know!
He asked where I was going. I said, “Somewhere else!” Ha! Said it with a smile, but I told him flat out, that I wanted joy not problems in the front of my mind!
I went to buy a small chocolate, which was vegan but not raw. I just, well, wanted it! I made a conscious choice and stand by it. It’s so rare I buy such things. But I wanted to enjoy it and share it with him. So I bought the chocolate and brought him a piece. I followed it by a lovely smooch, then left!
The cafe was still empty. I said goodbye again, then realized moments later I was still carrying the perfectly ripe bananas I had bought for him earlier. I turned around to drop them off.
Back at the cafe, I pushed more for him to look around. I decided to stay and make my lunch as long as so much time had already passed with all this back and forth! Almost immediately, I saw several people walk by and invited them in simply with a smile! I said “Bom dia, Senhor!” with a smile to the man reading the paper in the news stand outside, which started a short but happy conversation.
I told Carlos: “Wait for it. Open yourself up to appreciating what is around you! Please!” I pushed hard, I smiled hard, I loved hard.
All the while, I had decided to make some collard wraps for my lunch, to bring along. I was feeling the GRATITUDE so fully, and I consciously hoped Carlos would catch on before I left.
Within TEN MINUTES, after 30-45 minutes of an empty cafe, I saw
- a couple walking by who decided to stop when they saw me preparing the collard wraps with a smile.
- The lady ended up with her first green smoothie and asking about the wraps.
- Another man stopped in to relax with a beer.
- Another woman happened by and stopped to say hello and stuck around, asking if “the happy young lady” was Carlos’s wife!
- Another young lady stopped in for a green smoothie (she comes in often!)
- Another young man stopped in for a green smoothie (he has lost LOTS of weight and gained energy from drinking them daily!), who also saw the collard wraps and was asking about them.
I don’t know that my attitude brought them in… but I do know about
THE POWER OF MOMENTUM!
Once something starts in a certain motion, it will stay in that motion until pushed hard to reverse or change direction.
So…
Why not keep your momentum in the POWER OF GRATITUDE!? Or PUSH it there. Stop what you are doing to have a look around. You need not look hard to see the blessings in front of you. The sunshine, the roof overhead, LIFE, health, love!
With love and gratitude,
xxo Eva