A Thousand Tiny Miracles

This week has been hectic; work and school have both resumed their pre-holiday pace, and the impending weather has only served to lengthen my perpetual to do list. I seem to have come down with a cold, which isn’t exactly a productivity aid.

Amidst the chaos, there are a few quiet moments in which I have the time and mental energy to reflect on things, to check in with myself and examine the bigger picture.

What I see in that reflection are a thousand tiny miracles.

A huge pile of kindling left for me in my basement. Compliments from old acquaintances and strangers on any number of things, but most delightfully on my writing. Stronger relationships with my neighbors, and my discovery that I do indeed bring something to the table- that I have something to offer them in return for removing dead fall from my prized azalea bush.

A new sense of confidence and determination- which is just what I need to make the shift from surviving to thriving. Being offered the opportunity to escape (for a week!) the harshest winter I can remember in the Southeast, and for the first time, not being suspicious of my manager for making it happen for me. My darling baby sister has found some sorely deserved happiness, professionally and personally. My Mom had her chemo port taken out this week, and is officially in remission. B picking up a few snowpocalypse supplies for me and refusing to let me pay her for them. Finding myself choosing to try something I never would have just a few years ago, and being terribly excited about it.

The big changes, the sweeping developments, the turning points in life are few and far between. Most of adult life is a sea of conflicting wants, needs, responsibilities, commitments and opportunities. Truly, the greatest blessing any of us can hope for is to live and love in a way that litters our existences with those thousand tiny miracles.

Their presence and my awareness and appreciation of them send me a clear message:

I’m doing something right.

It feels wonderful.