The Places Between

This past weekend, we took the kids to stone mountain and hiked up at sunset. We came back down after it was completely dark, and the kids were a little scared.
So we walked in a line, all of us holding hands, with the kids in the middle so they “felt safe”. The entire time I had us playing a game of quiet. For a minute I would have the kids observe silently, and after the time was up, I would ask a question. “What noises did you hear?” or “What feelings did you feel?”, etc. And every time their little answers were the same..very simple, basic, and completely cute. “I felt Daddy’s big hand,” Brooklyn would say, or “I think I heard an owl,” Brett would add. And each time Daniel and I would look over at each other with big knowing grins on our faces, both thinking how adorable our little munchkins are.. You could feel the love.

I started to think deeply about these moments.. Shouldn’t surprise you people since I can overanalyze a rock.. and I decided that I like them so much because they represent a certain place. To me, these special moments in our lives- glances, smiles, laughs, thoughts- these moments are the place in between the rest of it all…it all as in life.
But ironically, when we are on our deathbeds, I’m pretty sure that these places- these places in between the big stuff- will be what we remember most about life.
Daniel always tells me “Life is what happens when you’re waiting on life to happen.” He’s right… and sometimes I struggle with grasping that completely.
For me, being such a goal-oriented person means I’m always focused on my “next big thing”. But I’m starting to see that it’s not really about the “next big thing” as much as it is the constants-the little things. These tiny pieces of me-the fragments of my life that make me who I am, and that connect me to the people in my life I care about the most-thats where it’s at. That’s the real happy place…