Here’s a post that I’ve been saving as a draft since early November. I find that some of my best posts start as a response to a thought provoking question asked by a fellow blogger. Megan Rhodes is a fantastic landscape photographer – her work is truly beautiful. She’s pretty new to blogging, but every post that she does write causes me to stop and think. She wrote a post titled “Finally Friday” , the gist of her post is found in the middle of her post:
Why do we have so much invested in this one day of the week? We allow ourselves to relax more, be more happy, have more fun and be more free, and we do this all because it is Friday. What is it about this one day that gives us all this cause for celebration and relief?
<This is where you’re thinking “well, duh, it’s because tomorrow is the weekend and I don’t have to come to this dumb job that I hate and deal with my jerk boss who is less qualified then an ant to…”>
I know the reasons why people celebrate this day. What I am really after here is this: why can’t we treat every day like it was a Friday? Think about how much happier we would be if we found a reason to be happy and to live life as we wanted to EVERY day.
I had an aha! moment several years ago. I had switched from an academic schedule to a year round job, and realized how much we had been putting off something until…summer…christmas vacation…summer…christmas vacation…you get the drift. With my new schedule I no longer had those long blocks of time, and I realized how much we had been wishing our lives away. I now TRY to live each day as best I can…I try not to let yet another week go by where I’ve been worn down by the grind of laundry, homework, chores, job, dishes, and I’ve got no room for things that give me joy. There will always be laundry and dishes…but that need to create a certain something, well that is fleeting. Everyday should have a bit of Friday, let’s not rush through each week to get there!
For some reason, I never finished this post, and after not posting today and feeling totally exhausted but wanting to get something posted, I found this draft – and realized that I need to listen to myself! My older son has been ignoring some things at school, I’ve been to busy to notice, and they’ve now caught up with him – and me! Scrambling to get a big project finish as well as some makeup Math pushed through, I found myself wishing some time away. But I need to STOP, or I’ll blink and he’ll be in 8th grade, 9th grade…
I need some inspiration right now, and I need go no further than Megan herself! I was lucky enough to win her “Intro to Blogging” giveaway, and chose her “Olive and Lavender” photo. It is so perfect for me! The light, the mist, the flowers and the tree, it’s a wonderfully composed piece of Sonoman goodness that reminds me of a wonderful week I spent surround by olive trees in Crete!
Much more than a photo, this is an incredible archival print on soft watercolor paper – the colors are so crisp, the white so bright, the paper so think and rich – it is so lovely, I am truly lucky to have been gifted this! This is how Megan describes the scene:
In the light of dawn, shaded by a low olive tree, the lavender field shines with the morning dew. As the sun hits the blossoms the air is filled with the rich smell of fresh lavender. Bees are starting their days work as the birds fly around overhead… If only we could start every day like this one.
But wait – she also included a second smaller print, called “The Way”
In the lavender field there are paths that lead this way and that. The fun of it is that each path takes you in a different direction and you get to decide which one you want to take. This particular path was the way I decided to go that day. And, to quote Robert Frost, “that has made all of the difference”. (from his poem ‘Road Less Traveled’)
Thanks so much Megan, for this much needed breath of beauty, as well as the reminder that I CAN’T wish my life away, even when Liam has too much to do and not enough time to do it in, and I’m a horrible Mom for letting it get this bad!
Megan’s contact info (click over for some major “Oohing &Ahhing”)
