Conversation lightens mood

I was feeling more than a little morose last week. The weather had changed from scorching to chilly and gloomy overnight and did nothing to help my mood.
I had become infected with another’s negative point of view and couldn’t shake the feeling. Then the phone rang.
It was my best friend from Ohio whom I hadn’t talked to in several months. We chatted about tomatoes. She had planted 37 tomato plants and had yet to get more than one or two of the ripe globes to the table. In addition to the lousy yield, she has a raccoon that has discovered her vegetable patch. It considers her garden to be its own personal grocery store. The animal doesn’t limit its diet to tomatoes and will steal anything that looks appealing, much to my friend’s frustration.
I confessed that I don’t currently have a raccoon problem but that my garden was equally dismal. Our tomatoes have a bad case of blossom end rot and no amount of Rot-Stop seems to help. So far we have gotten one decent tomato and it was a fraction of the size it should have been.
Our chat was like a good walk through the woods, meandering down one path after another, with no real destination in mind. By the time we hung up my discontent had evaporated. Plus I had a new remedy to try to increase the tomato harvest (Epsom salts and lime) and a request for the recipe for the sugar-free cookies I make for my husband.
The following day another friend gave me a ride out to a tiny shed that was crammed with more stuff that I ever imagined. In what little empty space there was, five grown men were huddled around a prone totem pole. Four of them were armed with paintbrushes. The other one had a book of illustrations. The pole was strapped to two sawhorses, lest it try to escape. I imagined I could hear a whispered, “help me,” coming from the wood.
I made the mistake of pointing out a missed spot and immediately was handed a paintbrush and a bowl of paint. What seemed like a few seconds later my ride was ready to go home and the totem pole looked less naked than it had at the beginning of the evening. I wondered why he wanted to leave so quickly then I realized we had been there for several hours. Time had flown faster than the speed of gossip in a small town.
Once I got back home I was babbling to my husband about what we had accomplished. I realized that I was happy once again.
I was filled with gratitude that my husband is not the jealous type and actually likes to see me have fun even if I am crammed into a tiny shed with a totem pole and guys brandishing paintbrushes.
The next day I spent the morning painting our closet. Of course, I also painted my face, hair and clothes in the process, but the closet looks good. It still needs a final coat of paint before we can build and install the closet organizer and lay the finish floor. Even so, it looks better than the rest of the house.
The weather outside is still dreary but the weather in my mind is beautiful. Friends have made all the difference in the world. Simple conversations that have nothing to do with whatever is bothering me have banished the blues. Tomatoes and totem poles are easy ways to communicate an unspoken bond between friends.
By the time you read this the weather may have returned to normal. Or not. If you are stuck in a gloomy mood, try calling a friend and discussing tomatoes. It worked for me.[[In-content Ad]]