Childhoodtake2!

This week, I read a beautiful post from a wonderful woman who spoke on how it can be so simple to find little things in this world to make you smile. Make you happy. Make you slow down a little, appreciate a little more. She set out a challenge...find what makes you keep going. Write that shit down. Make yourself remember the things that make you feel like you are living, actually living. Things that breathe life back into you, make you so content, comfortable, and at home. So, I made a list. And not my regular "get this done" list but instead, a make yourself remember there are so many things to be happy and appreciative of list. This is my list of love.

• Rain…the sound, the smell, the clouds, the gray, the dark.
• Waking up before anyone especially if it’s still dark out.
• But also, sleeping and napping at all hours, any time of day.
• The heaviest of blankets.
• The smell on my hubby’s chest, it smells like home.
• My kids’ actual belly laugh.
• My puppers kisses and hugs…because I have a dog that gives actual hugs.
• Seeing my husband love on our dog.
• Seeing my husband belly laugh at our kids.
• Pop-tarts…for real though.
• Looking through old pics of the kids.
• My fireplace and how much my puppy loves the fireplace.
• How much my puppy loves her crate.
• How much my puppy loves her family and you can physically see it!
• The glow of soft lights.
• Coffee, I have such a deep-rooted love for coffee.
• A lit candle.
• My bathtub.
• A good robe.
• The sound of a bat as it hits a ball, that crack gets me.
• The look of a grown man’s face when he is so happy you can actually see the little boy in him.
• Watching basketball, especially college, most especially with my family.
• Long runs when I have 0 training scheduled, because I'm just running for the love of running.
• The very end of yoga because laying down is my favorite.
• Waking up and realizing I have so many more hours of sleep ahead of me but I’m not struggling to fall back to sleep. Because again, I love to sleep!
• A really good kiss, because you are a really good kisser, even decades after our first. 
• This fall, I don't know if I was just ready to really watch it all happen this year or if this fall has been especially exceptional but we really do live in an amazing area. I feel like we are living in a movie about a place that has a beautiful fall. There are leaves everywhere, the air is crisp but still warm, the colors are gorgeous…it has been magic.
• Family bike rides and family walks with the puppy.
• Playing a game together as a fam, I just love spending time with you guys. 
• A gray day.
• A new snowfall.
• Snowshoeing!
• Watching the kids sleep.
• Holding hands.
• Quiet.

I have so much to love on every single day. I need to remember how lucky I am and how much good I can find in my days. It is not always easy, I focus a lot on what I can be doing, should be doing, could do differently, need to work on and lists that look so different. But this list, this is a list we can all make and all take in. And slow the hell down and remember that life gives you reasons to smile. Life gives you reasons to slow down, you just have to take a breath and remember that your own list is there for you.