Inspiration Time

Inspiration Time

Last week at work one of my coworkers passed out a little baggie filled with sweet treats to celebrate spring. Each baggie was a different pastel color with different colored Easter grass in the bottom and attached to the baggies was a little note printed on bright yellow paper that said:

                                                                                                

                                                        May Day

                  Live every moment  

                             Laugh every day

                       Love beyond words

JHappy SpringJ

This little note brought me joy that day because I have these words carved in wood in my den and kitchen. I ate some of the delicious treats but I kept the note because it is a reminder of how important it is to LIVE, LAUGH, and LOVE. It reminds me of my old college buddy Marsha. She used to say all the time “life is too short to be unhappy” and she was so right. At that time she was single and had 3 daughters and she lived in a fabulous townhome with her kids. She was a few years younger than me and she always had such a positive outlook. I admired how she LIVEd her life to the fullest by taking nice family vacations with her daughters, working hard to put herself through school to support her family and how she made sure to provide a nice safe home and environment for her family. She LAUGHed all the time and she always had a smile on her face. When things went wrong she didn’t get upset, she just said “oh well, that’s life” and took whatever the challenge was in stride. And she LOVEd her daughters beyond words. She would always give them kisses and hugs and they were always hugging and laying on her whenever they could squeeze into an open space. Now, she wasn’t perfect but she was a genuinely good person and friend. She was my maid of honor at my wedding and unfortunately after getting married I lost contact with her. But these words brought back the great memory of my friend Marsha to LIVE every moment consciously, LAUGH every day, even if it’s at yourself and LOVE beyond words by giving hugs and kisses to those who you love. Life is too short to be unhappy, so just LIVE, LAUGH AND LOVE. Thanks Marsha!!

                  

Adventure Time

Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I've got a wonderful feeling, everythings going my way!!! What a nice and simple song. I like to sing it every now and again and when I do people look at me like I'm crazy but hey, that's what I'm feeling yo, LOL!!! Ok seriously, I'm so grateful for my life and my journey of intention. I'm really coming out of my comfort zone and doing things that I've wanted to do for years and it feels gosh darn awesome man!! I mean, I made the decision (and yes when you want to do something you have to make a quality decision) to spend this spring exploring and doing outdoor things that I've been wanting to do and this past Saturday I went hiking with my friend Tracy at a state park called Washington on the Brazos. 

Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site is where the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed on March 2, 1836. It is the birthplace of Texas. We went there for 2 reasons, my friend loves history and I wanted to see the wildflowers. This place is known to have a beautiful blue bonnet field but unfortunately because of the strange weather we've been having lately and the drought last year, the blue bonnets bloomed very early and didn't last very long at all but there were other beautiful wildflowers that stole the show.

We walked along the trail and listened to the gravel crunching under our feet. I love that sound. When we stopped the only sound  we could hear was the birds singing. I took this time to reflect on how awesome this beautiful earth is and how wonderful God is for getting us there safely. I was very grateful that I finally got to experience the wildflowers of this wonderful state. The colors were so vivid and bright and they smelled fantastic. At this moment I felt like everything was okay in the world. It's amazing how serenity makes you feel.

  We continued our walk with very little conversation other than pointing to the beautiful flowers and attempting to name them. I verbally thanked God for this experience because it was something I've always wanted to do and I thanked God for my friend who wanted to share this experience with me. I joked that I hope we wouldn't be attacked by wild animals when she discovered bobcat poo and then I almost stepped on a snake.

Yeah, I was ready to go after that. We rounded the trail and came upon a couple having a picnic and we saw a photographer in the bushes about 25 feet away from the couple and the photographer told us that it was a proposal. What a beautiful day it was for such an awesome event.  I would have loved to hang around to see it but I think we would have given it away so we continued on to the river overlook which was another peaceful area of the park. I could have stayed there for hours just watching the water and listening to the birds.

The day was perfect, the sun wasn't too hot and there was only one snake and no visible bobcats, thank goodness!! But after thanking God for allowing me to see this beauty, I found that am really interested in seeing other state parks. I'm sure I won't be able to see them all this spring but I do want to visit more and also take a nature class or something to know how to respond to the wild animals that are out there so that I can be protected. I mean, nature is in the wild and there are all kinds of creatures that go from place to place and you never know if someone owned a wild animal and didn't want it anymore and dropped it off in the preserve so just for my own peace of mind I'd like to know what to do. My friend who is a native Texan and lives in the country says she's never seen a live snake before and honestly that was my 2nd time in my life coming close to walking on a snake. Anyway, I enjoyed myself immensly and I hope that if anything, what you will take from my adventure is to get outside and have an adventure of your own. Go somewhere you've never been and open yourself up to experiencing something new. Keep moving and growing so that you can discover new things about yourself. I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised.