from this moment..

Most of the time in my life I am striving for something, learning something, or working on something (that something being anything from spiritual awareness to a connection with God to learning a better teaching method to a more organized household and menu schedule)--waiting for THAT moment when it all makes sense and I achieve that goal and my dreams come true and life ummmmm, begins? Wait. No, that can't be right. My life began a long time ago. Why am I still waiting for that moment?
I finally get it--THAT moment is now. Not tomorrow. Not when I lose weight, have more money, pay off debt, live in my dream house, have more children. No, it's right here-right now.
I easily forget about the moment because I am anticipating 'what's next.' Have I put the laundry in the dryer? Did Sophie brush her teeth? Are we ready for tomorrow? Do we have a plan for today? OK-Sophie's eating lunch, let's get out the craft--or the books--or change for the park--or start dinner--while I wait for her to finish and so on and so forth.
I don't want to be 50 or 60 or 85 by the time I realize that 'what's next' is really supposed to be 'what's now?'
What happened to having lunch with Sophie--right now, right when it happens?
What happened to enjoying what we ARE doing - instead of prepping for the next thing?
It's soooo easy to get distracted and let my mind start to spin out of control during the day-overwhelming me with all sorts of things that have to be done before I go to bed. The have-to can wait. Have-to's are things like shelter, clothing, food--you know, the basic needs like a blogger friend kindly pointed out to me recently.

So, I'm practicing 'staying in the moment' and I find when I get a little "camera happy" I begin to start living in the future thinking about new activities to do, posts to put up on the blog, and anything else -except- whatever it is I happen to be doing at the moment.
So--over the weekend I put the camera away.

On Saturday, we decided to grab some Jimmy John's and go to a park for picnic and playtime. It was a gorgeous day outside-not a cloud-about 65 degrees (70 in the sun without the breeze) and we were all together-including Jack. I remember thinking while we were eating our sandwiches how I wished I had brought my camera-then remembered why it was good I didn't.
I enjoyed myself.
We ate at picnic table and shooed away bees.
We laughed when Daddy-O was more scared of the bees than any of us.
We talked for the dog while Sophie fed him half of her lunch. Then we laughed even more when Sophie talked for Jack too.
We sat on the swings for more than 30 minutes and just talked and talked and talked. I taught Sophie how to do a 'spider' ride on the swing, even though I am too big to make it effective.
We laughed some more.
It was so fun to relax, smile and laugh, and just BE. We stayed in the moment and the moment was mmm, mmm, good!


I adore days like that. It's what makes life sweet. It's why we are here.


Yesterday afternoon I started to get a little cranky because of all the 'have-to's' rolling around in my head. It was then I told Sophie to pack it up we are going outside. I REMEMBERED TO STOP! I REMEMBERED what is important--the moment. Here's what happened when I did.
We went to the park for a bit. Played and had fun. Just me and my daughter-swinging on the swings.
When we got back our neighbors were up (from their naps) and out. Sophie got to play and the moms got to talk--for like 2 HOURS! We just stood there chatted and the kids ran around and played and I swear to God --life was perfect.
Our neighborhood felt so normal, nice and safe. It was so much fun.
By the time we got in Sophie was super tired and dirty, so I bathed her while dinner was cooking and she conked out on the couch right after dinner at 6:30.
When I stayed in the moment--everything fell right into place beautifully. I had plenty of time to clean up dinner, have some adult conversation with 'the boys downstairs' (Nate & Co.), AND I was able to just BE before any 'what's next' thoughts crept in my head. Awesome!


The only flaw is that I don't have the pictures to prove it. Maybe I'll get one of those really skinny cameras that I can fit in my pocket--but not until I mastered the art of 'staying in the moment.' I don't want any distractions yet because it is just such a great thing. I have really been able to relax and go with the flow much better over the past few days.

I did snap one quick picture yesterday though. It appeared Jack was missing us and took Sophie's pumpkin pillow to keep him company until we came back. He's such a sweet puppy.


I can't wait to see what our moments will look like today!