Little Things

I’m a day late with this, because yesterday after I got home from work I sat down to read “for a half hour.” Someone needs to remind me to just say no when I think something crazy like that when I have work to do because do I ever stick to my intended time limit? Nope! I always spend the rest of the night with my nose buried in the book. But it was actually the perfect end to the day. It wasn’t a bad day, just one of those days.

After I got to work I reached into my camera bag (which I’ve actually been using when I go to work lately because it’s the perfect size to carry what I need without being bulky on the bus) and poked myself on the wire support on the side that was sticking out. I poked myself right on the tip of my finger, which is conveniently where I hit the keys on the lower part of the keyboard while typing and is also in the perfect position to cause a lot of discomfort when I hold a writing utensil. After that I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and realized that my outfit could have used a little more thought. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. But once I got a little closer to the mirror, I noticed that my bangs looked absolutely perfect. I didn’t do anything to them either; it was just that perfect moment that never happens where my bangs swooped neatly off to the side. My bangs were so perfect, in fact, that I was afraid to touch them all day for fear of messing them up.

A couple of weeks ago, Erika started a gratitude project over on her blog Chimerikal. She also has a link-up that’s been going on for two weeks. I participated in the first week but not the second, just because last week was a crazy busy week and by the time I got home on Wednesday I didn’t have the energy to write a blog post. But because of her project, gratitude has been on my mind throughout the last two weeks. It was perfect timing, because the last few weeks have been hectic and stressful and sometimes when life is busy it’s easy to become overwhelmed. It’s easy to start to feel down and cranky, so I always find that during these times in life it’s good to take time each day to think about what I’m thankful for. And throughout the last couple of weeks, I’ve found that on the busiest of days it’s the little things that help get me through. Things like:

— Perfect bangs without any effort.
— Chocolate Chai Lattes (iced please).
— Seeing Little One’s tail wag as soon as I walk through the door.
— The hugs my niece always gives me when she sees me.
— The fact that acorns are falling, even though Little One wants to eat them, because it means that autumn is almost here.
— Finally finding the perfect Chai Banana Bread recipe.
— Having the chance to bake, which is always therapeutic.

I don’t have any words of wisdom for you related to gratitude, because sometimes the old adage is true: It’s the little things that count.

If you have any thoughts about gratitude,