Appreciating all of Life's Moments

Priorities! I feel as though the word "priorities" sums up my definition of life. There are always so many things to do and never enough time or energy to get them done. Friday morning brought with it a glimpse of clarity. Rarely do I purposefully wake during the 5 o'clock hour, never am I alert if I do, and to do so on my own without "reason" is so preposterous it doesn't warrant a mention. However... I awoke last Friday morning at 5:00 AM, fully charged, gloriously cheery and full of life. When you wake up to this, how could you not?

I proceeded to the kitchen where I brewed myself the most charming Cup of Joe, I filled the mug to the brim with an exorbitant amount of Coffee Mate creamer and I practically skipped into the living room to watch the world wake up in my back yard.

I found myself completely mesmerized by life. The sky is so gorgeous in the morning. It is magnificent, colorful, and pure. The birds begin their morning routines, they chirp and sing, fly around as if in dance and feed their babies. Although terrible for my house (I know), there is a mother bird who built a nest in my attic eaves through a hole in the wire netting that serves as a vent for my roof. Despite the damage the birds may have caused, I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to wake to that first thing every morning. To hear the babies chirp and watch the mother swoop in and out bringing them food, so precious and such a reminder of the beautiful things right outside my window.

As I sat there that morning I was reminded of how special life is, how quickly it comes and goes and how simple it should be. Finding that moment every morning is my goal for this summer. Taking those few beautiful moments to think about my day, enjoy me, enjoy my backyard, enjoy being a mother yet also having some special quiet time alone.

I think we all need to be reminded sometimes to stop and enjoy the beauty around us, smell the lilacs, play with our children, teach them to pop the heads off dandelions, throw pine cones, weave blades of grass, sift sand, climb tree houses, swing, laugh, love.

Liam's favorite thing to do with Mom is to move rocks from our diminishing rock wall around the property. He likes to carefully select a rock, proclaim loudly how heavy it is and carry it to where we are working. He then takes all precautions to find the perfect spot to toss the rock. He helps me fill the space with mulch careful to make sure mom ends up with some in her hair and on her clothes. It may not be perfect but it's perfectly us!

This weekend I took the above old vegetable garden from the previous house owners, pulled out all of the grass and overgrown weeds. Put down some fresh soil and filled it with mums and other assorted flowers.

I am no gardener by any means but I think I created something that would make Grandma proud (my Grandmother is the historian for her chapter of the garden club, her gardens put my feeble attempt to shame). I finished with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment!

 I even planted two adorable planters for the front porch.

I think too often we spend our entire lives waiting for the next step, the other shoe to fall, the door to close, the window to open, the man of our dreams, the perfect woman, the newest addition or the next big thing. We should instead constantly remind ourselves to live in the moment because in the words of today you only live once (YOLO) so make it now!