There is a lot going on in my world these days about which I am not writing a lick. Few have ever seen me speechless, but those closest to me know that my thoughts and my feelings emerge most clearly from these keys at my fingertips. I've kept it all in long enough. I am a writer. This is how I let my insides out, and I know no other way. In the spirit of getting back into writing about this so-called "real life," I'll start with this post about The Wonder of It All.
I wear rose-colored glasses. I believe that people are fundamentally good, and I find the good in pretty much everything and everybody. If I'm 1% happy and 99% unhappy, I'll still tell you that I'm happy. That's just how I roll. It may seem a naive outlook on life and on the world; perhaps it is. But I've recently felt what it's like to live differently from that -- to focus on those dark places, on the down-side, on the less-than. And I say, f*ck that. I'll stay in my land of unicorns and rainbows, and there's not a person who's going to bring me down from my Truffula Tree. I can deal with the ups and downs of life from a vantage point of presumed happiness -- because if I'm not happy, I can find a path to happiness rather than fester in something that's less than that. "Choose to be happy" has been my life's mantra for as long as I can remember. I forgot that for a while. Shame on me.
I didn't get back here from nothing. I drew inspiration from friends who are living examples of what is "right" in this world in the way they give of themselves, and they've given so much to me: they have reminded me of my character, of my value, and of what I bring to the world -- much of which is the belief that I have something to share with people, something that's bigger than me, both through my writing and through hard work with my hands through service. And I also returned to my "home-base" by drawing inspiration from some bloggers, especially Kelle Hampton who writes "Enjoying the Small Things." The way that Kelle both photographs and writes about her life with her two daughters in Southern Florida is so moving to me that, when I'm down, just looking through a few of her posts reminds me that there are, in fact, people in the world who are just like me: people who wear their own rose-colored glasses proudly and with great effect. Please take a moment to read Kelle and wonder with me: is her life, as she portrays it, too good to be true, or is it, in fact, what life would be like if we just lived it without any worries other than caring for each other and making the best out of the everyday?
Spring has sprung here in NorCal. My favorite wisteria (which my kids deemed to have a name "like a disease" last year) is starting to bloom. Tulip magnolias are dropping their petals, and the sweet scent of various blossomings dogs me on my increasingly-frequent walks. I got lost for a while this winter, brought down by weighty matters that deserved my time and energy but not the soul-sucking, mind-numbing incapacitation that I gave up too easily. I'm walking back from that now, cautiously, but with my rose-colored glasses back on as I stroll toward the sunshine. There is so much real beauty in this world, so much graciousness, so many people and places and things that deserve to be examined in the best possible light for the goodness and truth and realness that they have to offer. Winter was hard, but spring? Life begins anew; such is the message of Easter, too, for those who Believe. 'Tis the season for a restart, and I invite you to walk with me on a new path that takes at least a minute each day to focus on some magic in the everyday. There's so much of it that I drink it in with reckless abandon on sunny, fragrant days like today. This is a pretty good way to live, soaking up the Wonder of It All.
Recent Comments