The Comforting Delights of Home

Home is such a wonderful place to be. Even though traveling is exciting and thrilling, it's so good to be home... like the peace that follows exhaling a deep, fulfilling breath.

I love being in my home where all my special treasures are in perfect spots, my favorite books are proudly displayed on bookshelves, my pictures bring back special memories. I love being home.

The other day I was sitting comfortably in the sunlight, folding warm laundry and listening to delightful acoustic music when I noticed patches of brilliant, colorful light falling on the floor. I looked up at the source: my collection of hand-blown glass balls - each one an honored gift or a purchase from a delightful vacation.

I decided to experiment with my new camera and took some photos of these prismatic orbs shining so brilliantly in the sunlight. It's like looking at another little world, an iridescent planet swaying in the bright space of my window.

Each one is special and beautiful but there is one more visually interesting than the others: a purple witch ball with strands of glass running through the center. Back in the early 1800's witch balls were used to ward off evil spirits. The strands were rumored to catch the spirits and prevent them from coming into the house.

If there are evil spirits out there floating around, they've not chosen to enter our home. Perhaps the witch ball has helped. I'd like to think that it has more to do with the love that hold our family and pets together, the happiness that permeates the bricks that surround us, the memories reflected in all of our special things.

A house is made of walls and beams,
a home is built with love and dreams.

(More of my photo experiment on Sunniviews.)

New Year's Wish...

Here is a New Year's wish for you, your family, friends and all those who continually bless your life:

Wonderful, wonderful, fortunate you;
This is the year that your dreams come true!

This is the year that you ship comes in;
This is the year you find joy within.

This is the year you are glad to live;
This is the year you have much to give.

This is the year that brings happiness;
This is the year you will live to bless.

Wonderful, wonderful, fortunate you;
This is the year that your dreams come true!

May you experience the best year ever - a year loaded to the brim with happiness and blessings that fall as softly as the winter snow!

(Photo credits to Hector Casanova as published by the News & Observer Jan. 3, 2008)

Happy Wall

Last year my daughter went through a period of having terrible nightmares. She’d wake up 4 or 5 times a night crying and frightened. My husband and I spent weeks trying different things: switching night lights, special stories, new pillows, warm milk, even rearranging the furniture in her room. Nothing worked for long.

Then one day, I was struck with an idea.

It occurred to me that if she woke up in the middle of the night and could remember something that made her happy or some pleasant thought, it might help her get back to sleep. So, I created “The Happy Wall.

I taped brightly colored sheets of paper to the wall beside her bed. Every night we thought of something great that happened during the day, a fun memory, or a compliment - then we wrote it on the wall. Things like ‘You are a great roller skater! … Great job doing 12 laps at the Fun Run – Wow! … Congratulations winning the water gun game at the Fair! … You’re the most polite trick-or-treater in the neighborhood.’

Believe it or not, it worked. The nightmares have subsided and the Happy Wall continues to grow. Sometimes I catch her quietly gazing at it and it occurred to me how wonderful it must be to have constant reminders of all the happy things in your life. I think I would love to have a Happy Wall. To post all the compliments of friends and family, fun events in your life, even recommendation letters from your former colleagues and managers. To be constantly reminded of all the fabulous things about you and your life. To gaze at it every night before you fall asleep. Imagine how happy your dreams would be!

I sometimes try to imagine that I have a Happy Wall in my mind. When experiencing a breathtaking moment, to just hold that image in my head like the only thing hovering in the great expanse of the universe. Like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon at sunset, watching my daughter sleep so peacefully, the sight of a silver cloud crossing a misty moon, a big, comforting hug from my husband after an exhausting day. I could post all these things and more on a wall greater than the length of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Maybe longer!

How long would your wall have to be to post all the awesome things about life? If you really thought about it… how long would it be?

Light

Lately, I've been observing light a lot more. The way light shines off of walls at different times of the day. The way it changes the feel of a room depending on the angles of the blinds or weather outside. The effects of light on the sky - how blue appears so differently depending of which direction you are looking. The way light is depicted in paintings. When I'm onstage with our choir, the light through the stained-glass windows colors the congregation in various shades of purple, blue and golden orange. It's a beautiful sight.

I think it all started a few weeks ago. It was a typical weekday morning, we were rushing around intent on making sure we remembered to do and grab everything we needed for the day. It was cold, so I went out to start the car. And there in the sky, majestic and silent, was the most stunning sunrise. The clouds made the most fascinating patterns and were shining in pinks and golds. I was caught completely off-guard. So I stopped, for a moment, in total appreciation. No distraction, no sound, complete silence. But the sky spoke volumes.

Since then, whenever I go out to start the car, I stop to appreciate the morning sky for a brief moment. How different it is each day... On clear mornings, the deepest blues with golden reds peeking just above the skyline. On a foggy morning, with the mist settled on the trees in the distance and everything soft and peaceful. And most days, the way the clouds slowly drift across the sky - sometimes a golden shimmer, sometimes brilliant pink, sometimes various shades of purple and gray in different patterns and shapes - fabulous!

I picked up the most inspiring little book recently called "Small Graces - The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life" by Kent Nerburn. His writings are so contemplative, so beautiful, I almost cried after reading the introduction!

Anyway, there is one chapter called "The Gift of Clouds" where he tells of a time he was a cab driver. Everyday he would pickup a blind elderly woman and they would chat. One day he asked her if she could choose one thing to see, what would it be. She said "Clouds." He was surprised by that and asked her to explain. She said that it's because no one can explain them to her. They say they are like cotton or fog. The spray whipped cream in her hands and have her feel the shape of them on paintings. But still, she cannot picture them. She asks him how he would explain them. He looks into the sky and says "They're like God's dreams."

And so I have a new appreciation for the sky, for the clouds and for the way the light changes them every moment of every day. And I am grateful to be blessed with the eyes to see them.