The moral of the story in every eighties teen movie is that you don't appreciate what is right in front of you. You know the story. The emotionally deep, nice, geeky guy likes cool rich girl. The guy uses his best friend who is a girl to help him get the rich girl, then at the end realizes his friend is the one that he really likes. He didn't appreciate what was right there in front of him.
How often do we do the same thing, looking at the good things that might be out of reach and ignoring those good things that are right in front of us? I had an experience that reminded me to appreciate what is in front of me this week. I always plan on taking my kids hiking so they can enjoy the beauty of nature yet I rarely find the time to drive to "the mountains" to hike. My brother and his family visited us from North Dakota this week. I woke up to find that he had left. I asked where he was and was told that he went on a hike. When he got back he told me of the wonders he found hiking behind my house. The next day we all put on our best walking shoes and climbed the hill behind our house. We saw lizards run across our path. There were desert roses blooming with beautiful orange flowers. Four antelope were startled by our approach and we watched them run until we couldn't see them any more. Interspersed between the dry brown grass and gray sagebrush there was Indian Paintbrush dotting the landscape. I spent quality time with my kids and we had a great time.
This is the hill behind our house. It is bigger and steeper than it looks. Those are all 15 foot tall juniper trees on the hill.
Below are some of the views we saw from the top of the hill. The orange arrow in the first picture shows our house.
(click image to enlarge)
Life is an eighties movie. It is important to notice the good and beauty that is right there in front of you. Try not to always look for something good to happen down the road. Don't say to yourself "life will be better when ______." Enjoy the journey of life now, and look around you for the beauty of nature, or life, or family. Stop reading this article, walk around your house/apartment/office, or go outside and find something good or beautiful that is around you now. What can you appreciate now? You will find something. Once you do, come back and comment on what you found.
d~michael~
Glad you're appreciating what you have. Now please make that orange arrow bigger. I'm having a "Where's Waldo" moment. I can't see any arrow - orange or any other color.
ReplyDeleteIf you click on the picture to make it bigger, you should see it. It is in the middle of the picture on the left hand side. It is in the picture from the top of the hill.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing view! Glad you took time out to spend outsider with your sweet ones.
ReplyDeleteI love the orange cosmos rustling in the wind outside the front door.
"where's waldo", I always get a kick out of your comments Maybelline.
ReplyDeleteDaisy, I LOVE orange cosmos.
Look at all of that snow on the mountains!!!! It is June right?? Just one look and I knew instantly what mountain that is. :) It's been a long time since I lived there....I almost forgot how amazing those mountains can be.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post!
-Leah
Just today I realized that I can vacuum all the carpet in my house while the vacuum is attached to only one outlet. No moving around the cord to another outlet. Nice, eh?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the instructions and including a bigger arrow. Thank goodness you are appreciating where you live. Smokes. That's beautiful. Perfect Pioneer Day setting.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post, Michael - thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! I enlarged the pic with the orange arrow and it was then that I saw your view from the front. Those mountains are breathtaking!
ReplyDelete: )
Andrea