Conscious Hearts

This is Day 3. Click here for links to all my posts in this series.

When my boys were younger they seemed to be always under my feet but as they've gotten older, they have become much more independent, spending most of their time basking in the solitude of their own rooms. And I get it. I do. I haven't completely forgotten what it's like to be of that age.

We still see much more of Dracen than Devin since he has only recently entered this stage and also because he feels the need to express his opinion (and countless theories and ideas) to anyone within earshot. Devin, on the other hand, we often only see when he is passing through rooms.  

As of late though, I've noticed a subtle shift in him. It's as if he's coming back to me in a sense, not as my little boy (there's nothing little about him these days). Rather, I am catching glimpses of the future man in him beginning to emerge and while bittersweet, fills me with a sense of joy, pride and gratefulness.  

Last night while Charlie and I were watching t.v. (another episode of Naked and Afraid) he waltzed into the living room and sat beside me on the couch, finishing out the episode with us, even participating in our commentary throughout the show.  If you haven't seen the show, don't worry, they blur out the naked bits and it's really just a survival show, only in the nude. Weird? Yes. Addictive? Obviously.

Anyway, show aside. I played it cool when he joined us but on the inside I was smiling from ear to ear and experiencing a sort of warm glowing gratitude deep within my soul. I was in the moment, as small as it was, and appreciating it for all that it was.  

I was being "conscious of my treasures" which brought the magic to an otherwise ordinary moment.

Amen!

Passionate People

This is Day 2. Click here to read my other posts in this series.

Yesterday evening I was in the living room watching an episode of Naked and Afraid on the Discovery Channel (a show I've recently gotten sucked into. What will they come up with next?) when Charlie came in from his church committee meeting. We had not been home when he came in from work and he was already gone when we returned home so it was the first time we'd seen him since morning.

Dracen immediately began telling him some story about something he'd learned at school that day. They are both the talkers in the house so it was getting pretty loud, prompting me to turn up the t.v. volume since they were threatening to drown it out with their voices. While I was fully absorbed in my show, I was able to grasp the fact that Dracen was following Charlie around from room to room in order to keep his full attention. 

I never knew what they had been carrying on about until last night, some time after Dracen went to bed, when Charlie told me he had been telling him all about a human skeleton scientists had found that is supposedly older than that of 'Lucy'. I got really tickled because I could just see Dracen's animated face and hand motions in my head as I got the description of how fascinated he was by the fact that she walked upright but had this big toe that she just sort of "whipped out", giving her the ability to climb effortlessly right up a tree.

He told him, "Ohhh, I would just LOVE to have a toe like that! I'd tell Mom that I was going hunting and I'd just walk out in the woods and then, whoop, climb right up to the top of a tree!" And then I regretted that I hadn't turned down the volume on the t.v. instead of up because apparently what he was selling was a whole lot more entertaining than watching those two naked and afraid strangers test their survival skills in the jungles of Borneo for 21 days.

You see this story, this discovery, was something he (an 11 year old boy) was passionate about and that is when people really come alive. I came across this quote awhile back and thought, Yeah, me too. That's one of the best things in life, watching someone talk passionately about something...anything. 

Everyday magic at its finest. 

Everyday Magic...Day One, Music Magic

October has arrived which means it's time to begin the challenge of blogging for 31 days straight! Since I decided to do this thing, several weeks ago, I've been wracking my brain non-stop trying to settle my mind on a single topic to write about for a whole 31 days, until the point of complete mental exhaustion. I've always struggled with decisions when given too many choices. That five page menu at the Mexican restaurant always does me in because too.many.choices!  

I've bounced around what seems like about five thousand different ideas but the one that keeps coming back to me is the very first one I had (go figure). So for the next 31 days I will give it my very best shot to step up and take notice of those beautiful little things and moments that we so often overlook and take for granted as we trudge through the seemingly ordinary, hurried business of everyday living. 

This is day one. (Scroll to bottom of this post for links to all the posts in this series or simply click here or on the button above) 

One of my most favorite things ever is driving in my car alone on one of the many country roads I travel on a daily basis with the windows down, singing (loudly and off key) along with the radio, turned up as loud as I can stand it, which is usually just about loud enough to wake the dead. Some of the best money I spend each month is on my subscription to XM radio because not only is there always a good song on at least one channel, I've gotten back in touch with so many songs I had long since forgotten. 

I am all over the dial since my taste is music is and always has been extremely diversified but it seems that I mostly find myself landing on the 70s and 80s channels since so many of those songs take me back to my childhood and adolescence. I think most all of us agree that the music from those times in our lives evokes something special within us that not much else can touch. Bittersweet nostalgia, I suppose.   

A couple of days ago I was driving along listening to channel 7 when this song came on that was vaguely familiar to me, that I was certain I'd heard a lot while growing up but had somehow become lost and forgotten to me over the years and I had most definitely never paid any attention to the lyrics. But being a young 'un, I suppose I wouldn't have. This time, however, it had my full-on attention so I woke the dead with it.

I'm not sure I can do the feeling justice with words but hopefully you've been there and so you'll understand. It was as if Mr. Jackson Browne himself had stepped right out of my radio and into my heart and soul because I so GOT it. FELT it. All of it. Every.single.word. As soon as I got home I immediately downloaded it on iTunes and sought it out on YouTube. I've now played it approximately 5,678,342 times and have yet to get my fill of it. 

Now I've always been a music lover but music moments like this don't just fall in your lap every day. I will from here on out refer to this phenomenon as Music Magic. 

via wikipedia

The lyrics I felt most deeply,

Everybody's going somewhere

Riding just as fast as they can ride

I guess they've got a lot to do

Before they can rest assured their lives...

Are justified (How very true this is today, more than ever!)

And,

You don't see what you've got to gain
But you don't like to lose
You watch yourself from the sidelines
Like your life is a game you don't mind playing...
To keep yourself amused
I don't mean to be cruel baby

But you're looking confused

And this? Simply beautiful,

Baby if you can hear me
Turn down your radio
There's just one thing
I want you to know
When you've been near me
I've felt the love stirring in my soul 

Thank you, Mr. Browne, for Your Bright Baby Blues.

Day 2 Passionate People
Day 3 Conscious Hearts
Day 4 Holy Moments
Day 5 Two Birds and a Song
Day 6 The Human Spirit
Day 7 No magic wand, but a glorious Promise
Day 8 Old Friends
Day 9 Visible Sunbeams 
Day 10 Synchronicities
Day 11 Silver Linings
Day 12 Early Memory Magic
Day 13 Book Magic
Day 14 When the Bat Hits the Ball
Day 15 Little Joys
Day 16 Lighthouse Love
Day 17 Splendid Skies
Day 18 Four Leaf Clover in Books
Day 19 Hey-Mom-Watch-This
Day 20 Rainbows
Day 21 The Here and Now
Day 22 Thin Moments
Day 23 The Wag of a Tail
Day 24 Simple Songs that Soothe
Day 25 Positive Perspectives
Day 26 The Power of Smell
Day 27 Sunshine On My Shoulders
Day 28 The Beauty All Around
Day 29 Writing Anyway
Day 30 Mountain Magic
Day 31 No Regrets

(You can check out all the many blogs participating in the challenge

at Write31days.com or by clicking HERE.)