Appreciating

In this world that spins so fast with people rushing from one appointment to another and never taking the time to reflect or think, with children who have every minute of their days filled with organized activities, with families not taking the time to sit down and eat meals together, and with friends not taking the time to stop and tell each other how much they love and need one another, I am stopping now to share what I am appreciating today.  For the last two years, I have been trying to tell at least one person a day how I appreciate them and trying to find at least one thing or action that is so beautiful that it stops me in my tracks.  What follows are just some of the things I am seeing today.

Magic in the Sky

It's that time of the year again. When the evenings begin getting warm and humid, nature pulls out her perennial summer night lights and casts them into the shadowy spots under trees and the low misty spots in fields. Her fireflies dance and whirl to what must be secret fairy songs and inspire children to laughter. When I was a child, my grandmother showed me the toad stools that popped up after a summer shower where she said the fairies had sheltered from the storm. She told me to watch in the evening so that I could catch sight of the fairies flying and playing chase with the fireflies. Every time I see a firefly now, I think of my grandmother's voice in my ear and the joy that I'd feel bubbling in my chest when I spied that first firefly of the evening.