While puppies and flying horses are great, lately I've been feeling a lot of gratitude for beautiful things that make me happy. How could I see this face being so sweet and not be happy?
Or her constant smile and adorable chubster thighs?
(By the way, I've discovered I'm a much nicer mom when the girls are all dolled up and cute like this. It's much easier to laugh away a pouting tantrum when the girl is darling doing it!)I think gratitude is one of the best feelings to have. It gives me my rose-colored glasses on fuzzy gray days. I think the feeling is a gift from Heavenly Father. And that's what I think it will feel like in Heaven. I've had a few spurts of unexpected gratitude in the past few weeks, my little pieces of Heaven on Earth. The first was when I listened to this recording on youtube and my heart flipped upside down over 3 beautiful measures. (If you're curious, it's the three measures starting at 1:28. So simple. So heart-wrenching.) I immediately found the score in my collection and starting to learn it. It sounds nothing like Heinrich Neuhaus, but it's getting better every week.
The second happened yesterday when I took the girls to see Disney Princess on Ice. Leave it to me to get a little extra water in my eyes during a production meant for 3 year old girls. I've always loved figure skating and I've never seen a live performance before. It was beautiful and amazing. I can only imagine what it would be like to watch competition-quality skating. But, it wasn't so much about the elegance and grace every time Ariel fluttered her arms to swim, or when Snow White held her hands to her heart for her Prince, (although it was amazing when buff Ariel turned into a human in the air and held the cable with just one hand as she was lowered back to the ice.)
No, the most beautiful thing about this production was watching how mesmerized CJ was with it. She soaked in every minute almost as much as I did. She loved it so much that she danced up and down the aisle in her little Princess Aurora costume. She was enthralled when Aurora and Prince Philip skated to "Once Upon a Dream." That's when I teared up. I thought of how many times I've seen Tay and CJ dancing and singing to that music. I saw how CJ was in awe and I could see the hope in her eyes that this would be her when she grows up. I teared because I'm so grateful to have an amazing, beautiful daughter who is just as graceful in her little aisle hop as Aurora was on ice. I teared because she's already a 6th of the way to college. And I teared because I could see my child-self in the hopes oozing out of every square inch of her person. And I got my happily-ever-after. His name is Tay.
I am so grateful for my husband, for our good strong marriage. I was part of a panel of women a few weeks ago. We were speaking to the teenage girls in our church about love, marriage, higher education, missions, etc. I shared something that my Aunt Marilyn had told me when I was young. She said that after nearly 30 years of marriage, her heart could still jump when she saw Uncle Jim walk into a room. I feel grateful to have the same blessing and relieved that all the hoping of my childhood came true. When I shared this, two of the other women said, "Uhhhh! Marriage isn't like that! Marriage is hard!" I know marriage is hard for a lot of people, and a lot of work for everyone. But, I feel truly lucky to be married to someone who is so similar to me. It makes the "work" of marriage not very hard at all. It really can feel like a fairy tale at times...you know, after you've helped each other get the kids to sleep and you're eating home made sushi together with chopsticks....times like that. I'm thinking Tay and I should take up figure skating. What a perfect Heaven that would be: ice skating to a romantic Disney song while eating sushi with chopsticks. I'd better stop. I'm tearing up.
Oh Julia, what a sweet post! I loved the mental image of CJ dancing with her daddy, and for now, that's the only Prince Charming she'll need. And I don't think it's too much to expect heart-jumping even as you advance in marriage. That's probably one reason why it still happens -- because you're expecting it!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I was one of the woman who said it was hard. It is the realist in me that wants people to know that things are hard (or maybe things are exceptionally hard for me.)Anyway, I see so many people walking away from commitments and that was my way of saying, "Don't walk away, you can do hard things."
ReplyDeleteI hope I didn't say Marriage isn't like that though, because that wasn't what I was trying to say. Okay, enough defending myself. I am all for marriage! and ones that are happily ever after, especially if I have Ariel's arms.
Oh Tonya! You are so much closer to having those Ariel arms than the rest of us! I don't think Cooper would aprove of you and Ryan skating off to happily-ever-after-land, though. The costumes aren't modest.
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