Present Snapshots

I just came home after spending a week with my parents and sisters in FL. David and the kids were so sweet to encourage me to go. I felt completely spoiled with my parents as we sat around the table talking and laughing, eating delicious food and catching up on all of the little things that can get lost across the miles.  My parents are awesome people…just sayin’!  One day, my sisters and I got to go to the beach.  Mom packed us a lunch and great snacks. Once a mom, always a mom, I think :)I got my float out where the surf brakes and jumped on… letting every stress drift past me like the waves.  I let my mind drift as I laid there in the rhythms; felt and heard the power…but also the peace. I breathed deep and smiled into the sunshine. When we arrived at the water, we were initially disappointed that there was a lot of seaweed.  You can feel it as you wade and float, and it makes you doubt…is that fish touching me? but I had a strange thing happen.  As I lounged on the float, with my legs in the water, I focused on the feeling instead of the look of the seaweed.  It was like a little tickle swirling around my legs, as if the water was welcoming me, touching me softly.  I opened my eyes and gazed at the shore at two of the most amazing women on the planet-my sisters.  There they were, talking 90 miles a minute, arms and hands in full gesture, taking turns with the nutella. I got tears in my eyes, and took a mental snapshot that I will always cherish.  I found myself doing the same thing watching my parents…my mom at the counter, folding love into the food she makes; my dad with his little boy grin, telling us girls a funny story, making us laugh. We sat in the backyard, drinking in the moment, enjoying wellness and peace together. It’s often that we remember the past and even try to imagine the future, but sometimes it’s in the immersion of the present that we find ourselves emotionally fed, full of life and thankfulness. I hope I can discipline myself to take more present snapshots and let them seep deep into my heart. I have a feeling that those images are life fertilizer for the soul.