Bless-ed Home.

What is it about going home that makes everything seem right?

Last week Mom and I stayed up late baking caramel pecan squares, swooning over paint colors for her bedroom remodel, and drinking more wine than is appropriate on a Wednesday evening. It was perfect.

Dad filled me in on all of his new projects, and drove me to the train in the morning, waiting with the seat warmers turned up high.

Life is pretty wonderful like that.

Baby Stepp-ed.

I had a bit of a rough day yesterday and decided the best remedy was a home-cooked meal and one of Dad's pep talks.  Sure enough, Mom's spaghetti bolognse and Dad's sage words did the trick.

Here's what he said:  This is just the beginning.  Building the foundation for the rest of your life is often the hardest, and the least interesting task, but certainly one of the most important.  It can only get bigger and better from here.

Look at everyday as a challenge.  You may not make much, or feel that you do much (of importance, at least), but this is just the beginning.  Imagine how exciting it will be when you get out of the ‘foundation building’ and start putting up the walls…and then eventually, decorating the walls just the way we like them.  You can’t decorate a wall before the wall is built.  Though I hate to say this, you’re going to have to take baby steps.

And so far, you’ve taken some great baby steps.

As if those words weren't enough,on the morning commute I read the following quote: “That which is around me does not affect my mood; my mood affects that which is around me.”  The sun is shining, the world is vibrant, I am ready.

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Another year pass-ed us by.

Today is Daddy-o's birthday, so naturally we will celebrate with sushi, wine, and Mom's homemade pineapple upside-down cake.  I can't think of a better way to spend a Tuesday evening in March.  As I've mentioned, I love my parents.

Ironically, the milestones of my life are not marked by my own birthdays, but often by those of my parents.  With every year that passes, they are one year older, and I seem to be one year farther away.  This is surely the natural progression of life, but for a species that nutures it's young even well past the legal marker of adulthood, it seems bizarre that we are able to put so much space, both physical and spiritual, between ourselves and our parents.  Today has granted me the opportunity to reflect on my relationship with my Dad.

Dad is...

• Corny jokes
• Random, unexpected compliments
• The $20 casually slipped into my purse before I leave
• A mid-day email that recounts the sports scores from last night
• The evenings of take-out suppers that Mom would never have sanctioned
• Late night algebra tutoring sessions
• Cheering at the finish line of my first half-marathon
• My protector
• The simple answer to the toughest question.
• Always there.

pic:weheartit

Be Littl-ed.

This morning my aunt sent me one of those chain e-mails that tells some cheesy story about an old man and the good deeds he did paying off even after he passed away.  I was about to delete it when I saw the quote at the bottom, "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived."  For some reason, this resonated with me.  Life is the little smiles at strangers, the long overdue phone calls to old friends, and the cups of coffee shared with Mom.  It is holding the door for your neighbor, laughing with Dad, and playing fetch with the pup.  Take time to recognize all the ordinary miracles that make up our days.

To quote a famous coffee table book, life is too short to 'sweat the small stuff,' but the greatest of lives are filled with small stuff. 

Don't belittle people, be littl-ed.

pic: weheartit