Recharge My Batteries

I was doing a little spring-cleaning the other day – nothing too serious mind you, just a little uncluttering. This must be done from time to time, as stuff piles up.  If I add to my possessions I must also part with some. There has to be an exchange, otherwise I would drown in a flood of junk. Life must ebb and flow – it can never be just one way. There is a natural cycle that must be adhered to so that balance is maintained: In and out, yin and yang, up and down, and positive and negative (batteries included).

In my cleaning I decided I needed to organize my battery of batteries. I’ve got a lot of batteries – small coin-shaped discs, A’s in all manner of duplication, C’s but no B’s, D’s but no E’s, and little boxy rectangles that contain nine volts. I keep a supply of all of them on hand just in case a need should arise. In my cache I have batteries that are labeled rechargeable (although I wonder), and I have chargers for just such an occasion, but my experience with them has not been positive, actually more negative (to exhaust this word play). But I hang on to them, as it is possible that perhaps I have misjudged them. I am willing to give even inanimate objects another chance.

I have chargers hooked up to a few vehicles so their batteries don’t die and freeze during the winter. Sometimes a battery is dead and it cannot be revived – even a rechargeable one.

Likewise, people get exhausted and they need a boost. Unless they’re lifeless, most everyone can get revived.

Different people need different stimulus (or stimuli if you prefer) to recharge their batteries. For me it can be a snappy conversation, a good book or an entertaining movie. Sometimes even a stroll through a shopping mall or down a gravel road can do the trick. If I’m physically exhausted an activity that involves reclining sounds most appealing. If I am so shot from too much mental exertion that I can barely remember my own name, physical exercise, like trimming trees and splitting wood, is what I need.

For some people fishing, hunting or sports can give them the boost they need. Sometimes a quiet evening at home can work magic.

Frequently, an unexpected lift will come my way. My two grandsons often fill me with joy without advance notice. Micah, the two-year old, laughing while doing his signature circular side-skip move can do the trick, or his seven-month old brother, Jonah, slowly blinking and winking at me (which I translate to mean, “I love you”) makes me feel very happy and puts the wind back in my sails.

A warm southern breeze in March can make me forget my troubles too.

Even though this has been a pretty mild winter (as Minnesota winters go) and we’re not quite out of the woods yet, I do feel like I have sprung ahead out of the winter blues.

In Minnesota we learn to take the positive with the negative. The winter makes us enjoy the spring that much more. For if it was always summer what would we would have to look forward to for a recharge of our batteries? When would we ever feel the need to do spring-cleaning?