Finding Contentment

The lazy days of summer are here...and hopefully the dog days have passed....for us at least. After a cold winter and then being shocked into summer with extremely high humidity and 90 degree temperatures, the last week has been a welcome blessing--one that I'm trying to remember to thank God every day for.

The weather has been perfect...little to no humidity, mid-70 temps, blue skies, no storms and a perfect breeze. The kind of days that kids love playing outside in, that make you picture magazines, swings and a cool frosted glass of lemonade at your side.

In reality it's been a lot of playing, working in the garden, quick gulping of whatever's available, hanging clothes out on the line, watering the garden, planting more flowers and just enjoying the sunshine....it doesn't quite match up with that magazine/swing/lemonade picture in my head, but in some ways it's even better. In most ways in fact.

I've found contentment. The older I get the more I realize that I'm a homebody...and the older I get the more I realize I am craving the simple things in life. The smell of fresh sheets dried on the line, the ACT of hanging out those sheets to dry, the excitement I get when Reagan and I check on the garden, worrying over what we are going to do with all those zucchini when they start arriving--and thanking God for the blessing that I'm worried about too much food. The shock of steaming hot water emptying out of my hose, the smell of the cool chlorine when the cold water finally rushes out. The sun-kissed streak across Reagan's nose...watching her run with her sun-streaked hair streaming out behind her. Watching her dance in the water and hearing her shriek. Noticing the way she crouches down to watch an ant scutter around the patio.

This is contentment for me.