Hello Summer ... Hello Gratitude

 I've lost my way with writing my blog.

I've decided I want to make my way back here.

My Instagram account slowly took over

but now the noise there makes me question it all.

I miss the old days when it was just about community and pretty pictures.

But nothing sounds like old people talk than yearning for the good old days.

Instead I think life is about continually evolving to get the very best out of  our life.

This summer I have decided to have 

A Beautiful Summer

one full of the magic I remember from  one summer when I was young.

My dad was finishing his Master's in Kansas.

Our family of four was staying in a one bedroom  student apartment.

My younger sister and I in the bedroom, my parents in the living room.

My days were full of calm and happy family togetherness

craft classes and a new best summer friend.

In the sunlight evenings we would walk down by the cows in the pasture

to the ice cream store for a cone.

I don't think I ever even told my parents how much I loved that summer.

I think the simplicity of the days calmed my mother down.

She spent so much of her life overly busy

with the obligations of family, being an elementary teacher

and making a beautiful home.

But I'm sure the main reason she was calm that summer

was because  my sister who had down syndrome and a heart condition 

was healthy.

And because  we were only visiting Kansas from California

we were a tight little family unit.

We would drive on the weekends to visit my parents siblings and families.

It was a simple, peaceful and calm summer.

There was the first moon landing

my dad splurged for a small black and white TV

to watch the occasion.

I remember just how tiny that student apartment actually was

but as I bring up the memory

it fills me with contentment and love.

It's funny how we can spend so much of our life in search of the bigger and better

when so much joy can be found in the simple and calm.

So that is what I am  creating this summer.

Simple beautiful summer days filled with calm.

At my age I really don't know how many summers I have left.

I want to make each one count to me.

I am too old to not make the most out of each day.

I want to find simple ways to feel the magic and the calm of summer

while loving on my people.

Slowing down 

to savor and enjoy

the beauty of the life I have created

I have been on social media for well over a decade.

I have always been aware of the effects  it could have on my mental health.

I know when to step back when I'm feeling drained.

I think I am writing here today to remind myself not to get caught up 

in the noise.

Whether form too many opposing political opinions

or

as simply too many accounts that leave  me feeling not enough.

I am older and wiser than to fall into those traps.

But obviously I still need to remind myself

not only of my own story

but what I am actually trying to achieve

in designing my one life.

I want to continue to make my life my art

one day at a time.

I want a calm, beautiful, magically joyful life

full of love and creativity.

I want to drown out the noise that I should 

always be achieving and doing more

and 

even wanting more.

I am beginning to realize for me

maybe a simple life is the best life.

To have the time to exhale, reflect and rejoice

in the small beautiful moments that make up a good life.

To feel the peace of contentment.

I am choosing to get off that track that has always  to lived in my head.

I want to live with a grateful heart

savoring intentionally the beauty and creativity

a day can bring.

I want to continue to live an artful life

with creativity, passion, love and joy.

As always my friends

I wish you love and joy

as you style your life.