Getting Me Through

 

Can I tell you how hard it is to enjoy the present when you hate the winter so?  This cold is killing me!  It's hard to forget about how cold it is when your hand and feet are constant icicles,  regardless of socks, slippers, or mittens.  What to do, what to do?

There are two things I have decided to keep up that will most certainly get me through.  The first is keeping fresh, bright flowers on the kitchen table.  I'm in the kitchen so much that they always catch my eye and make me smile.  They give me hope and excitement for spring which is just around the corner (only 46 days until March).  Did I mention that they smell fantastic?  They do.

I've become quite the tea enthusiast.  Well... maybe a little bit more than an enthusiast.  I love it.  I look forward to holding a hot cup in my frozen mitts every afternoon.  This is the second thing I have vowed to do daily.  I usually enjoy a green tea with a touch of honey for sweetness.  But an amazing thing happened to me the other day.  What is it you ask?  Well, I actually won a giveaway on a blog.  I know!  Amazing!  The best part is that the giveaway was for a ton of delicious tea from Mighty Leaf Tea.  It came in the mail today and I immediately made myself a pot of Rainforest Mate.  The tea is amazing and I'll probably be buying it from now on.  Something about tea makes me feel warm, comfy, and relaxed.  It's a true comfort food for me.

It feels good to find a little warmth and beauty on these bitter cold days.

In The Now

My friend Erica posted something yesterday that hit me pretty hard.  She wrote about living in the present and enjoying things as they come instead of always waiting for what's next or what's happening down the road.  I know I have huge issues in this department (I may have even posted about it before).  I am always asking myself,  what's next, what's tomorrow, what's next month?  "Then what" is constantly ringing in my head.  I am always waiting for the next stage in everything... in life, with my kids, with money, it goes on and on.  When Adelaide was little I was always waiting for her to do something new: crawling, walking, eating solid foods, talking, and I never enjoyed how amazing she was at that very moment!  I feel like I missed out on so much even though I was right there every day, all the time.  I do give myself a small pat on the back because I am trying so much harder to enjoy Reggie where he is.  He is eight months old and he still can't roll from his back to his belly, he can't crawl, and he certainly isn't close to walking.  This would have made me crazy back in the day.  I'm actually loving the fact that he can't get around yet, he is so much easier to handle this way!  Instead I love how he is the most laid back baby in the world and will sit on your lap and just chill.  He is the noisiest, most babbling baby I've ever heard.  He loves to stand in his entertainer and play, or sit and play with his toys.  I am so lucky!

I'm realizing that life is too short.  I am thirty years old already and that totally blows my mind.  Where have the years gone and have I enjoyed them as I should?  No.  I am not making a resolution because we all know I don't do that, but I am going to make living in the present my biggest priority.  I want to enjoy each day and enjoy what each one brings.  I want to accept circumstances as they are and do what I can to change them, but enjoy the journey and each step along the way.  I want to make sure that when I am old and gray and sitting in my rocker on the front porch that I know I enjoyed and lived life to the fullest each and every day.  I'm sure the next thirty years will fly by just as quickly as the last thirty and I want to make each one count.

Live in the now baby!