Beauty in the Small Things

It’s hard to appreciate the dark moments, those times when we feel most vulnerable, when we wonder how we’re going to pull ourselves out of the abyss we’ve fallen into.

I felt myself falling the other night and all I found at the bottom was a quagmire of sorrow, fear and self-pity. I allowed myself to wallow in it for a little while since there was no escaping it.

But you know what I found in the morning when I opened my eyes? Well, besides a big yellow lab snoring next to me and a big black lab dancing on his feet by the side of my bed waiting to be fed. I found that what comes with a new day is a new perspective. And then you appreciate the little things, no matter how minute they may seem on a grander scale.

So on that Sunday morning, that one beautiful Sunday morning at 6:20AM (Thank you sooooo much for letting me sleep in Sylus), I found beauty:
• I opened my eyes and was greeted by two extremely happy dogs.
• I made them even happier by feeding them.
• I went out in my backyard and heard birds singing and watched the dogs chase a lizard.
• The giant saguaro cactus in my backyard has been a host for countless cactus wren families and I’m pretty sure I heard the screeching of babies inside my cactus.
• Ahhh, I live in Tucson!
• Coffee. What a sad place the world would be without it. The aroma alone is sent from the gods.
• My morning newspaper. It’s a ritual and the day doesn’t feel right if I don’t start it by reading the paper.
• My home. I love my house. Not for the physicality of it but because it’s a home. It’s where my family grew up.
• My pictures. While just the night before, those pictures threw me in to that abyss, this morning they lift me up and put a smile on my face.
• The painting in my hall that was given to me by a friend. The first time Al and I saw a copy in some little store we laughed and said that it totally represents us.

• Picking up dog poop. That’s right, I said it. I have a backyard, I have dogs and that means I have happiness only brought to a person by a dog.
• My children – they’re grown with lives of their own but they bring me such joy and happiness. Seeing their faces can completely make my day.
• The laughter of the kids next door. There’s nothing like a child’s honest and heartfelt laugh.
• I’m alive. I’m here to live another day. To have a future, to have meaning. To make others happy.

When It’s Darkest, Men See the Stars.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Only when life is difficult, are we challenged to become our greatest selves.