lady's slippers

I need to stop and smell the roses more. Or look for the lady's slippers, as it were. It is so easy for me to get caught up in all of the daily to-dos of this season, their stress and seeming immediacy, and to forget to literally and figuratively open my eyes and really take in what's happening around me. I took the car to the garage yesterday morning to have a strange noise addressed, and walked the few minutes to my office to finish paperwork.

It was one of those humid early mornings in late June that smells like life and warmth and sweet soggy earth. With a zillion thoughts swirling through my head and so many things to do at the very end of the school year, I started marching over to the office to
get
things
done.

Along the sidewalk, there's a lovely little wood that I hadn't really noticed before, since I had always driven that stretch in the past. And when I took a second to appreciate the light falling in a little clearing, there they were. The most perfect little assembly of sodden lady's slippers.



I don't particularly enjoy hurrying. It just seems to be my default setting. I do enjoy the satisfaction that comes along with accomplishing tasks, but at the end of a busy day, I'll wish that I had taken a few minutes to just stop and take it all in.

And you know what? Blogging and sharing these little moments is one of the things that helps me to process and appreciate them, odd as that sounds. This past year (I mean school year, as I'm a teacher, so that's how my life is organized) was absolutely nutty, and many little things that I love (blogging included) have been neglected. Which is fine - it's what I chose. But now that the school year's over and it's finally summer, I'm choosing to bring those wonderful sanity-savers back. Next year is shaping up to be a wee bit less crazy, but you know what? I want to be calm in the face of whatever it turns out to be, and no one else is able to do that for me.

And now is the time to start. So hello again, friends! Happy Summer!