Appreciating the gift of simple pleasures
June 10, 2022 - Reading time: 5 minutes
Yesterday I awoke just after sunrise and took my grandpup on a walk. He's a sweet old fluffy Malamute fella who behaves so well. It was only 80 degrees outside with a cool breeze. The forecasted highs exceed 100 the rest of the week, so we took our time around the neighborhood block and enjoyed the lovely morning at hand. Sometimes I have to remind myself that strapping on tennis shoes for a walk doesn't have to include working up a sweat. Yesterday I didn't need to remind myself because old dogs on a walk simply meander and it was just the speed I needed, too. I took note of the tree branches and dark green leaves gently jostling about in the breeze. The shadows at play on the sidewalk. Manicured lawn shrubs. Oh, and Central Texas has a bird species that one cannot overlook because of the unique sounds they make - Grackles. They are large, crow-like black birds. I'm going to paraphrase information from the website All About Birds because they say it best: Grackles make a guttural readle-eek followed by high-pitched whistles that are often described as sounding like a loud rusty gate. Believe me. It gets your attention.
By midday I was relaxing on the sofa and reading more of my book. My son and his husband both work remotely from home on teams with other computer engineers and software developers. Their office spaces are quite the set up and my son manages four screens at the same time. It's crazy impressive and a bit nuts. But he loves it. That was evident as I sat on the couch across the room from him, reading sure, but also sneaking looks at him over the top of my book while he was in his element. Such pride fills this momma's heart. During one of his breaks, he showed me what he does with each screen. I compare it to the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. He has a fancy hydraulic desk that he can raise to work standing or lower to work seated. I did my best to stay quiet while he typed away on his backlit keyboard and participated in various virtual meetings throughout the day. 
Later in the afternoon, I received some sad news from back home. I won't go into details here, but it was once again a reminder from life to slow down and appreciate the everyday moments, the small things that are really big ones to the heart. Like simply being in the same room with my grown son, co-existing in common air space, knowing that my tribe is healthy, happy, cared for and loved. He and I have lots of big adventures planned in the weeks ahead, but yesterday I needed to slow down and soak in the precious awareness of just being.
After work, we headed to Pinthouse Pizza, locally owned and serving up hand-crafted, made to order pies and award winning beer. It was fantastic. We each ordered a different pizza so we could sample from all three. Mine had an olive oil base with blue cheese, prosciutto, ultra thinly sliced pears, and drizzled with local honey. Let me tell ya, "honey," don't knock it 'til you've tried it. What a eclectic mix of savory and sweet. Easily my new favorite. I forgot to take a photo of it looking perfect upon delivery to the table because it smelled so wonderful that we attacked like ruffians. You'll have to settle for the after effect of the carnage. The beer hit the spot, too and we got a laugh out of the 'stache created by Preston's first sip of stout. 
I went to bed with a full belly and a grateful, yet melancholy mindset. I awoke again this morning to a sleeping house and was treated to surprise cat snuggles to accompany my cup of coffee. Hubby flies in later today and I look forward to his handsome smiling face and equally satisfying bear hugs. 
Life is short. Take time today to treat yourself to something that brings you joy and allow yourself to just "be." Love and hugs to every single one of you.