Clearing Up

(The view from the soccer field last Saturday)

Do you sometimes take the larger picture for granted?  I do. Both literally & metaphorically.  Sometimes when I'm outside I narrowly take in only the lesser details. My immediate surroundings.  The lawn with the bikes strewn all across (no mistaking the demographics of this household).  The shaggy flowerbeds. The front door in need of a new paint job.  The crabgrass that seems bent on conquering with a determination Napolean would admire. Things I want to change.

(Another soccer field view)

But every once in a while the clouds clear and I see the real picture. Smell and hear it too. The beauty of the mountains and valley we live in.  The fragrant scent of cut grass, trees in bloom and the air following the storm.  The happy sound of my children at play.  The essence of home.  Things I would never change.

(From our front porch)

Life has been extremely busy. Chaotic. Stressful to the point of wanting to escape from it all and take my husband with me. But those clouds are clearing as well, and I am beginning to see the  light.  My world is beginning to look like this again...

There is beauty all around.