Living in Each Moment

To be honest, I often forget to enjoy each day as it has been given.

This realization came when I was counting down the days until our upcoming Hawaii trip, 16 day in case you were now wondering. I am so excited to get to go on vacation that sometimes I wish it would get here faster. In this wishing things would get here faster, I forget to look at all the great things that are going on right now. I am all for having things to look forward to, that is not what I am critiquing about myself. Rather I am trying to remind myself that the journey should be just as important as the destination. It is good and healthy to be mindful of the future; it helps us to keep making forward progress in life. Yet I am realizing it is also important not to get stuck thinking about things that will come and forget where we are at right now.

I also know that it is a slippery slope to start wishing life away. I noticed that I will often start thinking about the even the little fun events that are coming up, soon my mind wanders to upcoming seasons of the year, then I start thinking about plans we are working on for a house, which lead to thinking about a future career or family and before I know it I am wishing I could see the path for the next five years all laid out on a neat tidy map in front of me. I think even if that was possible, I wouldn’t want it - despite my wishing for it at times. That is because when I think back to five years ago, I see how many things in my life have changed or turned out in amazing ways I could never have believed possible. I know that if I was given a look at my future, it wouldn’t look the way I expect it to and really that’s not what is important anyway since it is often the journey that shapes our lives more than where we end up. This is a very tough concept for a planner like me to wrap my brain around. It is so easy for me to think of things in the future and start wishing for them then that becomes a goal and eventually a precise outline of where I want my life to go.

You may be thinking, “So what. There is nothing wrong with that?” and while I agree, If there is one thing I have learned about my life it’s that the more you try to plan, the fewer things go the way I expect. Lately I have found myself making plans for a year or more down the road that aren’t always founded on very sturdy ground. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are bad plans, just that I don’t have enough info about where I will be in that time until it gets closer. Life can change so fast, you can’t always have a specific plan and occasionally you just have to act. I need to remember sometimes it is ok not to have all the plans for life and just see what happens on the journey.

I am trying to be more “present” in each day and think about how I can enjoy and make that day better rather than just thinking about what is coming up. So in an effort to look at each day as a part of the journey here is a list of the blessings I’ve seen in my life lately:

- We had a beautiful Saturday morning, almost warm even, and Dusty had time to go on a run with me. It was more fun after than during for sure.

- The seed order for our garden arrived and we can start planting as soon as the mud dries a bit.

- The daffodil bulbs we planted last fall are finally popping up. I love daffodils! 

- My Moosey puppy and her insatiable desire to run and play fetch helps “force” me to spend time outside. She is obcessed with sticks!

- Our great friends come over or invite us to spend time playing games and eating dinners together.

- I can get in touch with my inner fish since I have had sub free Fridays to go swimming with the girls and their kiddos.

- Report Cards for my 5th graders are nearly done and we can get back to our regular schedule, sans tons of assessments.

- There is a thick crop of Snow Bells blooming to brighten up the entrance to our tin box.

- My Dusty is the most amazing man I could have dreamed of and supports me in every way imaginable.

Friends

Dusty and I are so thankful to have such amazing friends in our life, both new and old!

 A few weeks ago I had a three day weekend. It was wonderful to have a little more time to catch up with some of our out of town friends. We had planned to visit Chris and Carla at their house in the Tri-Cities but they were actually headed North to go skiing for the weekend in Canada. This means we got to start our “parade of friends” on Thursday when they stayed with us in Spokane.

Friday I had school and Dusty spent the morning helping move some of the bigger items to Craig and Michelle’s new house! After school Friday Dusty and I packed our bags and hit to road on our way to see our friends CJ and Libby in Pasco. We went out to a great dinner, played games and enjoyed relaxing at their house for the night. In the morning Dusty and CJ went and played disc golf while Libby and I visited and caught up on each other’s life.

In the early afternoon we moved west to Prosser to visit Grant, Andrea and their new little one, Noah. Noah was very sleepy while we were there. It was fun to watch him make little tiny faces and hear about life as parents from Grant and Andrea. We left Prosser with perfect timing to have a gorgeous sunset as our backdrop for our return trip to Spokane.

Sunday and Monday we went to Craig and Michelle’s new house to help them get settled in. I enjoyed helping Michelle organize and decorate their awesome new house. I was so amazed how perfectly all their furniture and decorations fit in their new house. It definitely is the perfect house for them and we are so happy that they finally found “the one” after looking for over a year… even if it is ALL THE WAY out in Liberty Lake.

Sunday we also went to a birthday party for Sami and Alan’s little boys. It was at a gymnastics facility so the kids there all were having a great time going crazy on the toys. The gym had tubes, slides (like McDonalds) and a bunch of other gymnastics specific equipment. Including a giant pit filled with foam. I seriously wished I was a little kid again so I could have my birthday there; it looked like so much fun. Dusty was excited to have an appropriate excuse to buy some cute little tractor toys for the boys gift, and I think the boys were just as excited to get them.

Overall the weekend ended up being much busier than we originally thought it would be for us. Nonetheless, it still seemed very refreshing as our hearts were fed by getting to see so many of the important people in our life. We are so thankful for all the great people we have in our life!