It's the Little Things that Matter Most.

It’s the Little things...

I have been traveling quite a bit lately. Things are changing fast for our family. So fast that it is necessary to say: “Whoa, Bessie!” It is exciting and sad at the same time. The home that we raised our children in will soon be put on the market. This will most likely be our last Christmas celebration here in our home. My husband will hear soon if he was given a promotion to Director,  and I am interviewing for full time work. My daughter was appointed an assistant director at a university, and my son will soon be in college. My husband and I are looking towards his retirement in 8 short years.

Life is changing...

We have been, for the most part, a one full-time income for our entire marriage. Therefore, creativity and ingenuity were the jewels in our crown. They sustained us through all of our leaner years, helped us to always have enough, and even an abundance to share. I considered those last few decades to be the skim milk years. Watered down versions that could still be considered a healthy choice, even if lacking in conventional “richness.”

As my husband moved up through the ranks in his career, the skim milk years became more and more a whole milk experience. A  conventional “richness” began to give us the ability to do more, still not having “enough” to truly do it all: fixing things, traveling, and saving- or at least to do it well consistently.  

These, whole milk years are soon to be replaced by the ½ and ½ years. My full time employment, outside of the home, will not only give me the opportunity to utilize my education, but give our family an experience of conventional richness that it has not had the opportunity to before. It makes me a bit uneasy, if I am honest, to pour the ½ and ½ when I have only ever had milk. I like ½ and ½ in my coffee, but I wouldn’t drink it out of the container from a glass. Will I still be me? Complete with ingenuity and creativity? Will I make my own wreaths at Christmas, or will I just buy them? Will I make my coffee at home, or buy Starbucks? (becoming “THAT” Styrofoam patron) Will time and restraints limit my freedom to travel, laugh, learn, and love…

I hope not.  These years have taught me, formed me, that living in the present moment with a smile no matter the occupation, is truly living.

Life, like cream, rises in stages. It all comes from the same source-skim, whole, and cream….Give thanks to God for the provisions in every stage!

A short story that actually happened this morning:

.... I poured milk into my coffee, and when opening the fridge to put it back, I saw that my dear husband had bought me 1/2 and 1/2 when he went to the store last night. I said, out loud, no one in the room, with a smile: "I love you."

Growing where planted, because It’s the little things that truly matter….