appreciate the little things

you know, a crush can make me put on my rosy-colored glasses and take another look at the world.

Even if it’s one-sided, I really love feeling excited in the anticipation of seeing my crush and it gives me something to look forward to. I’d forgotten how nice that is.

I find little kindnesses.

Or they find me.

I’m thankful for neighbors who bring me tomatoes from their garden, I’m thankful for rain to help my flowers, animals who like to cuddle, tennis shoes, friends who call and leave ridiculously long voicemails, and parents who come to the rescue when I have no idea how to fix the leak in my kitchen sink.

I appreciate campfires and people who just want to sit and be together.

I appreciate photographs and how they capture a moment that can evoke a mirage of images, smells, sounds and feelings in one glance.

I appreciate that I can be so close to him geographically, yet still be worlds away – and that I do not have to contact him to sense his presence.

I appreciate rolling down the windows in the car and singing a Cat Stevens song at the top of my lungs with people who do not care if their hair gets messed up.

I appreciate a cup of coffee poured for me by a friend in the morning, a door held open for me by a stranger and a hint of a smile on the face of the man sitting next to me in a diner – he wants to laugh at the comment I just made to a friend.

Little things are all around us, but they don’t seem so little to me when they fill up a day, overflow it and wash around me and the people around me. Big things are made up of a zillion little things that come together because they recognize a glimmer of joy in each other.

I’m getting better at this goal every day – I just had to open my eyes and let some of this in to my heart. I find the strength within my own soul – it was always there.

as i am learning to appreciate the little things, i find that i am more in the holiday spirit than ever before. and more than ever before, my life is in a strange stage of turmoil – but i manage to find joy, love and peace in my every day.

...just by taking a moment to breathe in and out and i realize that action in itself is a miracle and a gift.