Little Things

A new friend came to my home for the first time recently. She and her young teenage daughters had just moved here from a big city in the middle of the country. She loves small towns. My small town is a pretty awesome one and as I listed it's amenities it sounded even cooler than it is.

I told her about the quilting club, the garden club, concerts in the park on Monday nights, movies in the park on Friday nights, our popular 4^th of July celebrations, our community garden and anything else I could think of. I took them to see our beautiful marina park and campground on the Columbia River. I showed them favorite swimming spots. They were impressed and fell in love.

I shared with them the summer activity schedule for children and youth set up at the park every year. There is even a bus to transport kids to and from. I took them to see our police department, city hall, banks, hardware and grocery stores.

Then I brought them home. They said my home was homey and welcoming. They loved the chickens, bunnies, dogs and cats. They loved my tiny garden. The girls were in awe of my girls ability to drive the yard tractor around. My flower beds were praised. It was generally thought that my home was a peaceful, beautiful spot and again they fell in love.

And I think I did too...fall in love again with my home and my town. It is so easy for us to slip into the hole of seeing all the things we don't have or all the things that are so hard or all the things we are waiting for or the projects we haven't done yet. When this happens, we lose sight of all that we have. We forget about our daily blessings and settle for the discontent of “if only”.

I just found a plaque that reads “Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things.” I'm hanging it in a prominent place in my bathroom so I can read it every day. I'm hoping that I'll be able to live it. That's the view from my side of the street, what's yours?