The things within the things...

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing in just a drop in the ocean, But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” Mother Theresa

He comes in and squeezes my hand to let me know he's getting on the bus. ~my efficient 17 year old. We’ve established this routine so I don’t wake in a panic wondering if he’s overslept.

Today won’t be an indulgent morning snuggling beneath rumpled covers with a snoring puppy.

To-Do’s await...oh the tasks I MUST Check off my ever-growing list.

I should stretch.Take a walk or do something active. Perhaps I’ll watch a fitness infomercial while sipping my coffee.

I should revise and make a definite ‘must do’ list from the string

of infinities I dream of accomplishing in the next eight hours.

Sigh...before defeat-at-daybreak sets the tone for my entire day, I need to get up.

I toss the covers aside. Wilson sighs, opens one eye, rolls to his back, and thrusts his feet in the air, as if to say... “I’m good here – I’ll let you know when I need to sniff & spritz the lawn.”

While I slept my to-do list has reproduced like house mice. Notes on the counter from the loves of my life, “could you” “will you” “don’t forget to”

This over-scheduled, under-organized, juggling version of myself exhausts me.

Before I was a grownup I was more efficient.

Truth: I had less to manage.

My coffee is made. I move to power up the computer and carefully avoid the television remote. Grey’s Anatomy reruns are always lurking among the hundreds of channels waiting to pickpocket hours of my life.

Wilson rings the bells hanging over the door handle. My good boy, asking to go outside. Grabbing his leash, my sweater and mug we step into the morning.

Nature's melody greets us... the songbird's intricate harmonies float on the breeze. Crows add their noise like a poorly tuned cello while high overhead a “V” configuration of geese call to one another as they navigate toward the frigid pond.

The sky is shifting color...

The morning sun grows bolder and the gray sky begins to yield pockets of blue. Shadows stretch stenciling the grass with branches of frost.

I pause in deliberate stillness, my body unmoving but in motion.

Blood flowing, heart beating, mind surging, lungs expanding....

Life offers no true stillness.

The astonishing rhythm of creation and connection and breath...

In- With- Through-

If I’d waited, or stayed snuggled in, and allowed my mind to swirl in and out of morning dreams waking more tired for the extra hours of sleep, I would have missed the crisp air of coming spring. I would have missed the sunlight chasing the dark to decorate the lawn and dance across the water.

I would have missed this opportunity to be grateful.

Grateful for a home in the country and a day which began with a snoozing pup and led to a stroll and poignant personal meditation.

Nothing crossed off my list, yet I’m accomplished.

I noticed, I appreciated, and I acknowledged the movement in the movement.

Nature, universe, creation, and me...the things within the things.

Unplanned, un-maneuvered, and intricately interconnected. Moving like breath...

In- With- Through-

Breathe deeply where ever you are...

Notice with every sense you are blessed to enjoy ~ See, Hear, Touch, Taste, and Smell... and give thanks for the interaction.

We’re a part of the whole, just a thing within the things.

“... the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” Mother Theresa

Chat soon ~ Laura