Unexpected joys

When you find a way to communicate your dissatisfaction with someone without blowing a hole in your relationship.

A plant, a descendent from a cutting my mother-in-law gave me twenty-five years ago,  suddenly decides to bloom – perhaps to remind me seasonal decorations come in all forms.

A Facebook post that somehow rose to the top of my pile of correspondence; to remind me of things that are important in my life.

This was Hanni and I riding on the beach in Northern California two Christmases ago and her comment was: Thanks Mamma Bear for your endless support, wisdom, and kindness!

Love you forever and always!
xoxo

A store full of holiday shoppers whose high spirits were only topped by happy co-workers who really matter to each other.

Finding the unexpected joys in a day that went as it was supposed to go, even though it didn’t go as I expected…

I wrote the above post on the fifteenth of December, but never published it. Here I am fifteen days later, wondering why I have allowed the unexpected joys to escape me? When did my edges turn prickly and sharp? When was the moment my patience grew as short as the daylight?  Weak and strained, I bite back on the harsh words that form in my mind.

I’ve lost the rhythm of myself and life.

Simple gifts; “When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend we will not be ashamed. To turn, turn will be our delight, ’til by turning, turning we come round right.” Time to turn and find freedom again in the simple joys…happy begets happy.

I will end this year with the hope of simple gifts bestowed upon all of us; the smile of a stranger, the kiss of a child, the warmth of feeling loved.