Where to BEGIN?!
I guess with this.
Warren and I had a week without any fights, without any SUPER H…E…A…V…Y… conversations, a week without Tension.
I think we’re going to be alright, I first realized and then said to him, as we chuckled over some random inside joke.
And I hate to admit this, but guess what?
I wasn’t all PMSeylast week.
Yeah.
That.
Again.
And IN MY 50S, no less?!
Well not 50 yet, but soon, as in less than six months.
The shiny in the title had nothing to do with this, but, yes, my face has been as oily as a thirteen-year-olds.
Why it wasn’t that long ago that I lamented to Warren, “What’s an almost fifty-year-old woman doing with zits on her face?”
“Feeling youthful,” he replied.
Yep, that’s My Man. Never misses a beat.
He is one of the many personalities that help me remember to laugh and to not take myself so bloody seriously all the time.
Honestly, now that I say that for the umpteenth time, I am a little stunned by it.
You see, in many ways, I’m like a little kid who chases butterflies and stops to study bugs she finds in the middle of the road…
and who not only wants to know everything there is about life, she’s excited by almost everything she sees.
She witnesses so many things with fresh eyes, as if it’s all shiny and new, and she’s like, Show me more Beauty and Wonder, World. Show me more.
Like this dragonfly that mesmerized me when I accompanied Big Guy fishing the other day.
I could hardly contain my excitement as I positioned myself closer and closer and closer and it didn’t fly away!
It became even more glorious with each transition.
Look at those spindly legs and the complexity of its body and the transparency of its wings that are absorbing all that light!
And can you believe that my itty bitty iPhone camera picked up the mildew looking stuff on that blade of grass?
Life is that way, too, isn’t it Journeyers?
When we pause to hone in on the detail, we see it all, the good, the bad, and the indifferent…the shimmery and the dull…
That’s how my mind works, people.
All. The. Time.
I’m just so intrigued and curious and I always want to know more.
I see headlines like the two I spotted earlier this week, just as I was clicking to sign off, because I had to be somewhere, and it took nearly every ounce of energy not to click on this link.
Archaeologists uncover ancient skeletons says this to me: Come, Annah, look, people are here; really, really old people who lived a way of life you can’t begin to imagine. So you must come. You have to try to figure out how they lived and interacted and survived death and disease and beauty and babies without hospitals and epidurals and amoxicillin and modern day morticians.
Today I did a search for the article, so I could use the link. I’m not sure that’s the same one I saw, but I HAVE to come back to read it later! Did you click it? Did you see those beautiful bones? How they’ve survived…how many years? I am dying to know more.
And even though I didn’t take the time to read it the first day I saw it, I couldn’t resist the Mom creates product for women everywhere temptation.
And now I can feel even less guilty when I buy a so-worth-the-absurd-price-because-it’s-ten-times-more-comfortable-and-so much-sexier-than-the-ordinary-brand Victoria Secret bra.
Not only was I captivated that she’d designed something to protect our coveted lingerie, I was so relieved she hadn’t patented the venison burger spice mix I spent three years developing in my kitchen, the one that makes my guests go ooohhh and ahhhh and “This is the best burger I’ve ever had.”
And their drool makes me go, oooh, I want to create a label and package it and sell it and make enough money that I won’t have to work for insurance benefits and then I can spend the rest of my days learning and meeting new people and writing and growing…
And then my little brain starts churning and I think, Now how can I make that happen?
This is why I’m five minutes late.
Everywhere I go.
I guess we all should be thankful it’s only five minutes.
Okay. Sometimes ten.
Sheesh, no wonder I fall into bed at the end of the day and proceed to sleep like the dead.
Which brings me back to more of the things that brought me Joy and Excitement this past week.
I have this 110# Husky-Malamute lap dog that I use as an excuse to get out of the house, away from my computer, and to take in some much-needed fresh air and exercise.
A dog that big doesn’t fit into my economy-sized car very well, so we usually head out on our country road.
In the blazing heat of summer, this is where we often end up, so he can lap up the water and I can experience this Moment.
.
On one of these recent scorching days, he wanted to swim, so I made my way over to the ledge in order to get him into the deepest part of the pool.
Look what I saw as I teetered my way across those tiny rock ledges!
I cursed myself for the one time I left home without my camera and told myself I’d be back.
This morning, as I scanned through the week’s photos, I remembered the Moment I had forgotten all about…
It’s so easy to overlook those fleeting feelings that are Contentment and Peace and Joy, isn’t it Journeyers?
And, honestly, I’d much rather these events reverberate within me as opposed to the disagreeable ones…
That’s why I come back here each and every week, to remind myself that just as the proverbial Shit happens, so, too, does Happy.
I hunted quite a while for this tiny fossil and was about to give up my search when it jumped right onto my patch.
Thank you Serendipity.
Thank you Universe for reflections that inspire and fish that feed our souls and our bodies.
Our friend that coined the Squirrel comment also says this when one of life’s Moments catches my attention and carries me away: Ooohhhh, shiny.
As I returned from the waterfall this morning, and I thought about the title for this piece, the rest of that marital tradition came to mind: Something borrowed, something blue.
It occurred to me that maybe Warren and I have been asking the wrong question in all of our angst.
Instead of asking Can I keep doing this?, maybe we should be asking, Would I marry this person all over again?
Because the latter takes us away from the disagreeable and moves us toward those Happy Moments that we might have forgotten when Life got in the way.
And now, as I wrap this up, the thought of renewing our vows and that something bluereminds me of my engagement ring.
Some time after Warren proposed, he apologized for the smallness of the diamond and then he told me this.
“So many of my married friends are already divorced and I wanted a ring that symbolized something different than the many marriages out there. I chose the blue diamond because it reminds me of your eyes.”
That there’s worth its weight in gold, Baby…
How about you? What Moments inspired you this week? Made you smile or brought you a sense of peace or fulfillment? Pay homage to them, join the movement and share them here.