A Beautiful Life

The beauty of my life, is that to the ordinary eye, it's far from beautiful.  It is full sticky situations (and sticky counters), long practices and inconvenient work meetings, trips to the doctor, and daily chores.  And yet, when I take a closer look at all the fun, crazy, and utterly frustrating moments I am reassured that the beauty of life is found in ordinary days.

This year the kids turned 9, 6, and 4, and like most years, I find myself wondering how that could have happened so quickly.  How could my beautiful babies be so old?  Every once in a while I find time suspended as I watch them grow.  I see my sweet (slightly ornery) child who likes to instigate drama with her siblings make a treasure map for her sister and lead her on an expedition around the house and I am reminded that not only is she full of love, she is creative and a natural leader.   My sensitive boy, who grows frantic at unexpected changes, and craves routine calls me into his room at bedtime to talk through his worries, and as I hold him close I am hopeful that he will always feel comfortable confiding in me, but also learn to trust his own inner voice.  And the joyful baby, who is not really a baby at all (but still sucks her fingers and gets away with too much) keeps me in the moment with running commentary about giants on clouds in the sky, what her "butterfly friends" are up to, and requests to hear "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" just one more time.

Sometimes, in the daily grind of painting a house and paying bills, folding laundry, scrubbing pans, and mowing grass, I lose sight of the gifts that surround me every day. Truth be told, I have long suspected that often the only difference between an ordinary life and an extraordinary one is perspective. So, as summer marches on I will work to find gratitude in the little things, because really, the ordinary days are what make my life so beautiful.