
Storms were moving in, so the sky was completely clouded over. Our grass is a little on the long side, because it's been too damn hot to mow it. But because of that, the lightning bugs were everywhere. In the dark, out our big bedroom window, I watched our backyard glitter. It was as if someone dumped an entire galaxy of twinkling stars beneath two giant pine trees. We have a lot of mature trees in our neighborhood, which is a first for me as a homeowner, and we were enclosed in a twinkling forest right in our own backyard.
Know what I did? Absolutely nothing. Hubby turned off all the lights in our room so the house faded as we watched nature's show right before bed. And we didn't grab a camera or our phones to take pictures, because if we had, we'd have missed at least one little firefly's time to shine.
I've been putting my phone aside a lot more in moments like last night. Appreciating beauty and time with family without forcing a pose or recreating a moment that might have passed before we could click has become something I treasure. No, I don't have as many photos to share or print or send. I have memories instead. I've decided to start capturing them with my heart instead of my camera. Finding the beautiful moments in my every day life is something I struggle with while doing the sixth load of laundry in a day or cleaning yet another toilet. And look what I was missing in my own back yard.
I've been working on my mindfulness with meditation and gratitude throughout my day. I'm grateful for yesterday's backyard glitter show. Those little bugs worked their butts off. And on. And off. And on again. ;)
What are you grateful for today?
~Roxy