Happy Spring Equinox!

Best intentions, I guess..this post is from last week but is just now making it onto the blog. Whoops. Well, I, for one, am thrilled at the past week's unseasonably warm temperatures. It was 70 degrees yesterday! It's down to 45 today, but I'm not going to complain. Doug and I have been busy with yard work and spring cleanup (and pulling ticks off Kona, and picking up garbage the previous owners left...). I am feeling much better now physically, and am more than happy to have some of my energy back. We recently installed a fence out next to the road...it at least creates the illusion of privacy from our four-wheeling, snowmobiling, 6am target-practicing neighbors. Well, we have one fantastic neighbor, and the rest mostly keep to themselves...but there's always one... Doug is preparing for Ironman Canada, which is about two weeks before I am due with our second child, and one week after he has started school. We really like to make things exciting around here. If you'd like to take a guess, we have a poll going as to the gender of the baby over on the right hand side. Beck is chatting up a storm, and often comes out with the most hysterical lines I have ever heard in my life. He has a slight lisp, which is quite endearing, and still speaks with a singsong voice that melts both our hearts on a daily basis. He is, quite honestly, the most amazing two year old I've ever met...he can be reasoned with, does not have meltdowns, and is happy happy happy all the time. At one point, I decided to do a "time out" when he began throwing things when he was done with them, or frustrated. I had to do the "time out" three times, and he has never thrown another thing. He never says "no", and is just so good all the time! I am not stretching the truth even one little bit... Anyhow, enough bragging. Things are quickly getting busy around here, and our weekends will soon be swallowed up by training camps, weddings, races, and other commitments. I am having a difficult time (as I did with Beck) not being able to get out and bike or run...walks just don't give me the same endorphin release. But, it will go by quickly, I am sure. Stay tuned for more updates!

The gift of an ordinary day

Have you ever had a moment of clarity? I mean real clarity; when all of a sudden all of your senses converge to produce a feeling of such happiness that you just know that this was the life you were supposed to lead? That's not to say I don't have bad days now and then, or that I don't ever feel like more of a boring housewife than ever existed...but every so often, I think we are given a sign that we are on the right path. Or, at least headed in that general direction. Tonight, after a truly wonderfully average day, where I cooked and cleaned and made pinecone (or "pinecone-is" as the plural is to Beck these days) and peanut butter birdfeeders with Beck, Doug came home. It was nearing dark, and we all went outside for various reasons...Doug had brought home a small webber charcoal grill (old fashioned, but yay!) that needed assembling, and Beck wanted to show him the "birdfeeders" hanging in a nearby tree, and I had to bring in the laundry that, for the first time this year, had been hung out to dry. Perhaps it was the recent days doses of sunshine, or the fact that Doug commented on the fact that he loved my outfit (unlaced hiking boots, dirty handprint-stained skirt, apron, scarf and "chore jacket"), who knows. But, as I stood dropping clothespins and clothes into their respective bins, the wind took my skirt and it was like getting a hug from a dear friend. Doug and Beck were laughing in the background, and despite the wind, it was quiet. There were no gunshots from our neighbor (alas, these are frequent), no dogs barking, and even the distant drone of traffic from the highway was silent. A moment of absolute peace brought me such happiness, and in that moment, there was nothing I could do but smile, and realize that I had just stepped into my own life, and loved it. I sometimes forget that these ordinary days are the ones that are the most important, in which every small task, however mundane and repetitve, is done with love. I recently read a quote which said something to the effect of "it's not the blowout trip to Disney that kids remember...it's the daily walk to the mailbox, or the scent of homemade soup cooking in the kitchen, and even the nightly bath." So, here's to the ordinary days, and the small things done with great love.

"Normal Day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.

Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow." - Mary Jean Irion