whatever you do

This rhythm is nice.

I like the Monday through Friday gig more than I thought I would. The last two years I spent mental energy turning the world upside down when someone would call out "have a great weekend" because for me, that sounded like "have a great Monday." And who says those things anyway?

Now, I enjoy a Saturday.

The farmer's market in the morning. Sunlight throwing rainbows through prisms hanging on the window. Sipping coffee in its quiet warmth. Letting the minutes trickle in and out with cartoons and deep discussions about Pokemon. We go to the pool. We go to Home Depot. We go to the mountains. We have this amazing family time that we hadn't in the past. You don't realize how much you have missed something until it is in your arms again. The heart is funny like that.

The weeks are cruising by. Faster now that school has started. With it activities like soccer, multiplication tables and curriculum night to meet the teacher who is learning about your kid. Then you look down and it's Thursday night. And who are you kidding, the laundry can wait another day. Tossing it in a crumpled heap is an easy choice when there's a sunset to watch and coloring books to fill in. The motion carrying me forward is more about the moment and less about the endless to do list. You have to be careful now, that calendar can take over your life. If you let it.

Maybe we should all step away now and then. Take in the leaves getting ready to turn. The candle waiting to be lit. The cookbook sitting on a shelf, searching for flour-caked hands to flip it open. I like to think that priorities should be tossed around when it all is going so fast. When the dust settles you look up and realize the trivial was really just that. The important and profound is tiny and simple. How's that for a page turner?

The page has been showing up for me lately. In slits of time when I wake up early as the house is still and quiet. The dark night pulls me out of the sheets and my hand finds a pen. After coffee, that is. Then I'm off. In worlds that have been waiting. I'm writing a book. It is slow and steady. But that's the beauty of it. That is the tiny and simple truth. I like it that way.

My heart is still with the old life. I keep thinking about what was. Where I would be if I weren't here and now. Whatever you do don't blink. Whatever you do be here. Whatever you do hear the sounds of the past and the future melting into this present moment. I'm not sure how it happened. Somewhere along the way I've changed into this different person. With deep gratitude for what was, what is, and what will be. I treasure it all in a way that I've always wanted to and never could. A door has opened. I've walked through and am content.

Here. Now. This is right where we want to be.

{Pictures from our recent outing at Fort Mountain State Park}