Just Look Up

Sometimes you take the garbage can out to the curb and suddenly...you see a beautiful sunset blossoming.  You run in to the house, grab your phone, and start taking pictures.  Then you realize it might look even cooler if you cross the street.  Five minutes later you get a stunning picture of amazing cloud formations in an amazing summer evening sunset.

Heavenly Father works like that, doesn't He? You're focused on fixing the broken sprinkler, thinking about the argument with your husband or dwelling on the fat you've gained in your tummy, when suddenly you look up... and a miracle has happened:  a beautiful sunset, your spouse apologizes, you realize your body still moves pretty well.  All it takes is looking up.

Sisters

No one can make me laugh like my sisters.  It's gotta be because of shared experiences like: singing Bill Grogan's Goat in the back of the Suburban on summer road trips to Arizona, hauling wet carpet out of the basement after the sprinklers flooded the basement, and water skiing trips to Rocky Point Beach. But also because of our common love of chocolate, our common dislike (hate is such an ugly word) of our "Simmons" thighs (read- muscular thighs), and singing Do-Da-Do together a few too many times.  But I laugh more when I'm around my sisters than with anyone else.

Because we share common interests (our families, music and staying in shape) and struggles (we love sweets too much, and our thighs love them too.) we can laugh and cry together about them.  But sometimes jealousy and pride rear their ugly heads and I wonder why one sister is blessed with such a positive personality and so much MONEY!  Or another sister can eat candy bars every day and it doesn't show on her figure.    

Truth be told, I have not gotten along with Sister 2 EVER in my life - til about 1-2 years ago.  We are such opposite personalities, that we just never seemed to click.  Everything was fun and games to her, everything was serious to me.  Reading was dumb to her, reading was life to me!  Sister 3 was the mediator between us.  She could bring us together.  It's not that we literally fought, but boy we bugged the heck out of each other just being who we were, what we laughed at, what was important to us, etc.  I could tell by the snide little comments she would sometimes make (that perhaps she thought I didn't hear).  And we were grown adults with our own children!!

But in the last few years, Sister #2 and I have finally found a commonality that has drawn us closer: our trials.  We needed to connect with someone who knew us well, yet our mediator was too busy with her own life.  So we started calling each other.   Struggles I have been through in my life helped prepare me to reach out to her in her struggles.  It's been good for both of us.  We're still polar opposites, but life has softened the edges a bit.  So the laughing continues!

Living In Between

In this age of facebook, instagram, twitter etc. we see the big and small moments of our friends.  We see their seemingly glamorous lives.   But I am here to proclaim that 80% of life is the In Between Stuff.  Not the awesome trip to London (which I did post pictures of), not my daughter's high school graduation or my son's college graduation.  80% of life is actually the mundane daily tasks of living.  Getting up to go for a walk in the morning.  Doing laundry.  Paying bills.  Running errands so that we have food and clothing.  Fixing the broken sprinkler, putting together the new bookcase, weeding the garden.  And yes, some people post about these mundane moments also.  But often we just see those Ultra Special activities in life, and it makes us think our lives are boring because we didn't go to London/Hawaii/Disneyland.  We're still here doing laundry, paying bills, going for a walk.  But that's ok.    It's like the pauses in a sentence or a song.  We need the pauses, the silence, to catch our breath, to ponder on what went before.  And to appreciate even more the Big Activities. Performing those daily mundane tasks with purpose and gratitude makes life deeper, more meaningful. It turns your life into a work of art.