My Life Smiles

I woke up the other day dreaming about a friend of mine back in Portland.  Gina.  She is one of the happiest people I know.  She just radiates a sense of peace.  Warm.  Friendly.  Loving.  I loved being around her.  I didn't see her very often except for the occasional book club but when I did see her, it made me smile.  And she was usually smiling.  With her whole self.  I felt safe with her.  She is one of those genuinely kind hearted people that sees the good in people and things. We were never that close but I think of her from time to time as a person that I admire.  In my dream, her words were so clear and meaningful. Loud and distinct.  They were the first words I "heard" when I was waking up to the day.  She said something along the lines of Smiling.  Smiling with your heart and looking for the things to smile about because when we SMILE and find those things to focus on, we get MORE of them. This made me smile right away.

Many things make me smile lately.  And the more I've been running consistently again, the more I find myself SMILING and feeling truly excited about life.  I came home from my run last night feeling so 

Strong

Alive

and 

FULL.  

Not to say that I'm not also feeling a bag of motherhood stress from the end of summer, life stress, personal bumps here and there...you know, all that "stuff" that comes with LIVING. Stuff worth working through.  Life isn't all roses and butterflies all the time.  But with running involved, life sure is more enjoyable.  Easier.  Running brings with it 

Hope

Dreams

A Bigger Sense of ourselves and the possibilities 

Calm 

Energy

and 

BIG SMILES.  

Today, I'm making a SMILE LIST.  So many things around my house and in my life that make me smile. Really SMILE.

My SMILE LIST:

• My husband.  So thankful for him.  Gosh, he's so patient with me.  Kind.  Loving.  Giving.  Marriage is work and a good marriage is FAR from perfect.  I see this more and more. After 10 years now, I'm realizing more than ever how easy it is to just "settle" and stop doing the little things that make a marriage strong.  I'm thankful for many chances to keep growing with this man.  I truly want my marriage to flourish...not just last.  But be the part of my life that I hold most dear.  Smiling at the opportunities, wake ups, and desires that I have to work here.  

• The Gift of Tin for our Ten Year Anniversary.  Not sure what I'll do with this special little card box but for now, I love it on my mantle.  It makes me smile.  

•  Finding notes of love like this on our family message board in our dining room.  

• Old Books.  Especially this old book.  I recently went into a bookstore with two of my dearest friends and as they chatted, I wandered through the unique rooms filled with shelves of old and used books.  Gosh, I LOVE bookstores. When I walked in the tucked away room full of art related books, I told myself that I just wanted to find a book that jumped out at me.  Then I found this old 1895 edition of What is Art by Leo Tolstoy.  It was all alone surrounded by newer books.  Just sitting there on a bottomish shelf waiting for me to find it.  And when I did, I instantly fell in love.  Not even that I wanted to read THIS book right away but I fell in love with the look, the feel, the smell, the way it was worn, the repaired pages, the underlining that tells a story in itself (I Love when I get a used book that has been underlined and written in).  Finding this book made my spirit light up. It made me smile. I do plan on reading it but for now, I am finding smiles and joy in just having it in my house, flipping through it, and wondering about the many stories that book can tell from over the years.  Thankful for the GIFT that it is.  

• Gifts of ART.  This one makes me especially smile because it makes me think of two friends that bring so much love to my life.  Thankful.  It reminds me that life is so much better with safe friends that accept you as you are, support you, listen to you, and love you even though they know about so many of your bags of crap.  True friends are such blessings. 

• These Girls.  What a treat it was to have them visit me for a Girl Weekend.  My husband packed up and took the kids camping and we were able to just "Be" together.  I have to say, they inspire me on so many levels... running (they are fast), marriage, learning, career.  Just love them.  They make me SMILE.  

• Beautiful places to run.  I've had many of these moments this summer.  Alone and with friends.  This Smile of a Run was in the White Mountains of New Hampshire but there are lots of runs like this around here.  Nothing quite like getting lost in the beauty of a run.  

• Of course this image that I shared yesterday.  How can it not make me smile?!

•  Summer Mornings where we all start our day with reading for 30 minutes.  Big SMILES when this actually happens with all of us at the same time.  

• Boggle.  I've just started playing this game in the last month or so.  The first time I played it, I got my butt kicked!  It was so hard for me to get my brain thinking in the Boggle way but now I can't get enough of it.  My husband has been humoring me and playing it with me almost every night. This weekend we had some alone time and we played it for much of the day.  So far, I beat him most of the time.  But let's not talk about what happens when we play Cribbage together.  He's the Number man and I'm the one who loves words. 

He may or may not be wordlessly expressing some frustration at not winning here.  Ha!

Other smiles:

• Reading
• Sunshine
• School Starting next week.  Hello Routine!  
• Having a nature park right by our house that we can walk to in a few short minutes
• Living downtown in a cute little town
• That we never stay the same but are always growing and moving on to the next stages of our lives.  
• A November Marathon (a gift from Brooks) to run for Fun and Travel. Still making final plans here.  More on this soon.   
• Adirondacks Ragnar relay coming up in September.  I've got my tickets booked to Boston, plans to drive to the start of the relay with friends, and then a day with my friend AM after the relay as I recharge.  Yay!
• Kids writing letters to family so that I get writing time too.  
• A healthy body.  
• Getting a text message from my husband this morning telling me that he NAILED his hard run this morning!  On track for his September Marathon!  So proud of him.  So glad we can share in this sport as something we both love to do.  

I plan on continuing my Life Smile List this week  here.  I like the idea of taking snapshots of things that make me smile.  Some of you might get sick of my #lifesmiles photos but they make me smile so hopefully some of them will make you smile too. 

What are some of your Life Smiles right now?  

Project Smiles

This morning I thought I was never going to get ahead of the messes around the house.  I was knee deep in toys, spilled drinks, soap running down the sink, dishes, crayons, cheerios, and all the lovely things that come with living with small children. Just when I finished cleaning up one mess, three new ones were made.  My to-do list wasn't even unburied from all of the random things accumulating on the counter when I just stopped and soaked it all in.  The chaos around me that will one day be still and quiet was being missed out on.  I was trying so hard to plow through it and get to the next thing that I was forgetting that I can find joy in even the things that make me feel crazy.  I looked around at the onions simmering next to the crock pot of soon-to-be cooking black bean chili, my daughters covering the table in paint, glitter, crayons, and whatever else they could find to create with, my youngest child around the corner trying to figure out how to plug random things into the outlets (thank God for plastic covers!),  and my reflection in the mirror that looked like someone I'd become somewhere along this road of motherhood....greasy hair, black yoga pants, a stained t-shirt and a look of craze in my eyes.  I looked at these things and smiled.  I realized that they were my life and even though I'd much prefer the chores to be done, the dinner to be made, and to be instantly beautiful and presentable when I wake up, this crazy scene was MY life and I remembered to smile. 

My friend Tayarra's blog today at Honesty was inspired by A Beautiful Mess and was all about recognizing things that make us smile.  I love how she wrote about all the things in her life that make her smile.  Reading her words made me smile.  Isn't that usually true of smiles?  When I see someone else smile, I almost always find myself smiling too.  So, I decided that I really must get in on this Project Smile action.

Here are some pictures from today that make me smile, even if they also make me crazy. 

Okay, so this one isn't from today but here are my three biggest reasons to SMILE

This is what I saw this morning when I just stopped and let the chaos make me smile.  This mess means that I have little ones in my home to make the mess.  I know the day will come when I'll ache for finding glitter in random places throughout my home.  I'll miss the kid art and the spread out crayons and paint that are a sure sign that creativity and creation are in progress.

This little man knows he's doing something that gets a reaction out of Mom!  It makes me smile that he has a curious mind and wants to figure out how things work but I'm not so keen on his fascination with plug sockets. It makes me smile that someone invented plastic socket covers.

More crazy mess that I was able to find a smile in today.  This spread of mess is a sign of life!

Such joy came from digging in the wet sand box today!  A mess for me but so much fun for him.

Okay, this really does drive me crazy but also I squeezed a smile out at this shoe chaos.  This is  sign of little feet in the house and my running shoes on top of the shoe box pile is a sign that I will run again tonight...definitely smile worthy!

I will never NOT smile when I see these treasured shoes.  The "Fancy Green Shoes."  Smiling because she still fits in them and too soon they only be collecting dust in her baby box.

Black Bean Lime Chili and Wine

One Happy Baby Boy Loving His Chili!

What makes you SMILE? 

Amanda