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From Chicken Soup for the Soul: Your 10 Keys to Happiness
By Jayne Thurber-Smith

If you’re lucky enough to find anything in life that gives you five seconds, let alone an hour of relief from life, you should try to do it forever.
~Jack Antonoff

I’ve always loved horses, but for years my riding took a back seat to my four kids’ soccer games, hockey practices, dance recitals, karate classes, and golf tournaments. As my children became more independent, I decided it was time to put myself on the calendar. After twenty years of being at the beck and call of my family, there’s now a standing rule that I will be available to no one on Saturdays until after 2:00 p.m. That’s now my barn time, and it’s sacred to me.

Since Saturday afternoons are the only time in the entire week that works best for all six of us Smiths to get together, we now schedule luncheons for birthdays and other special occasions at 2:30 p.m. instead of noon. No one complains about a late lunch, though. If Mama’s not happy, no one’s happy, and this mama is always very happy when she shows up for lunch after her barn shift — happier than after any massage, pedicure, or facial. (Keep reading)