Life is always about the next step, the next big move on the checkerboard that is your life. But recently, I’ve had moments that stop me dead in my tracks. “Don’t move forward just yet” my mind tells me. It’s funny too, because I’ve had those moments in the past where I have to tell myself “Drink this in” or “This is a special time, remember this,” but now, my brain has started to do this without me telling it too. Something in me is reminding me, it isn’t about the big moves, it’s about the little moments here and now. They are what make me grateful. 

Maybe it’s because I’m trying to make the “big moves” in my life right now. A new career potential, graduate school, a move to a new place: the big “unknowns” that we all strive to work towards daily. Hoping the decisions and changes that we make are what is best for all of us. For me it’s for my boys and myself. 

So lately, I’ve also been trying to focus on the things in my life that are small but make it spectacular (not a word I usually use but yes, even I have things that can only be described by this word). There are the obvious things: the loving husband that bends over backwards for me (whether I want him to or not), the 2 boys that are my whole world and tell and show me daily that I am theirs, the things around us that we are lucky to have like a warm home, filling meal and clothes on our backs. But it’s the other stuff – the little stuff in the midst of those big things that you forget are important because they aren’t essential, that’s the good stuff. 

My 3 and 1/2 year-old is constantly reminding me of this. He’ll be putting on his pajamas at night but first pull them to his nose, taking a moment to smell how clean and fresh they are. “These jammies smell so yummy, Mommy!” And he’ll make me smell them too. Yes, my sweet child, I stop and think. We are so lucky that we have a washer and dryer with sweet smelling soap and multiple pairs of jammies. It’s a little moment that we move past quickly in our bedtime routine but it makes me stop, it makes me grateful. 

My 7-month-old reminds me too. He’ll wake up from a nap, giving a cry telling me he KNOWS is alone and wants to be picked up. The second my face comes over the crib, he smiles that big smile and reaches for me. Once in my arms, he snuggles into my shoulder and gives me that loving cuddle. This makes me stop, he can’t speak yet but I know he is happy and feels loved and he wants me to feel it too. I do my little man, and I’m so grateful. 

The husband that goes along with my crazy ideas. He’s my “DIY do-er,” my “big-idea” teammate. Sometimes, he can read my mind better than I can explain it when I’m pitching my next potential masterpiece. More often than not, he’ll surprise me with a result better than the image I had imagined it to be. How he does it, I have no clue. He gets me though, and I love that his creation blows me away EVERYTIME. It reminds me that even after 9 years together, 5 years of marriage, 2 kids, 1 house and a whole lot of ordinary life, he can still surprise me and for that I’m so grateful. 

There are so many small things that I could continue on with – the seat warmer in my car on a cold morning, the times when all all my boys are I are in the same room together just “being,” the sister(s) that I can call and vent to or help talk me into making that purchase for the purse, shoes, clothes, etc. that I really want, the Mom who is more active and into life than I am, the Dad who hears me out and offers his advice. I’m lucky and I know it. But most of all, I’m grateful.

I know, I know this is a whole lot about me and not much about you but I’m the person that can’t offer advice well. All I can give is experience, and this is what my experience tells me. It’s the little moments that make the life whole and without acknowledging them, you are missing the best part. So pitch that next idea, stop and breathe it in, hug a little tighter and most of all, be grateful.