Deep Breath

Spent the weekend with my dad, inhaling numbing air on long walks as the girls stayed warm in the zipped-up stroller, drinking good local beer (dad & I, not the girls!), and having great talks. It is cold...the kind of cold that makes you suck in your breath when you walk outside. I think of visits five years ago, or even last summer and I realize how different my attitude toward my whole life is now, how content I am with my world at the moment. For us, everything slows down this time of year. The list of things to accomplish on a Sunday shrinks to simply reading books together on the couch, an easy walk, friends, fireplace time. Mike's work slows down some, and we're really starting to settle into life as a foursome. This feels right. I hear from friends traveling in India, or I make vague plans for my next career, but mostly I'm so happy with my world as it is right now.

I've felt that punched-in-the-stomach feeling most the day, after reading a friend's blog about her tiny daughter who is terribly sick. Sweet baby is now on the mend, but I've been struck all day long by every moment I need to appreciate, to soak in...hugging my dad at the airport, Amelia making 'rainbows' in the sand at the park, Mike and I laughing at something that neither of us even had to say out loud, Aven's 'I-love-my-world' expressions.

I am feeling thankful for every second in this warm, light house full of my favorite people, and the sweet, deep breaths of a slow winter night.