Stop to smell the garden.

We've had 270 days here in the Pacific Northwest that it did not get up to 75 degrees. In fact, its been the most gray of a June that I can remember for a long time. You don't realize how much you long for the blue sky and sun until you've been in gray for months. I heard on the radio that last Sunday, June 20th, was the darkest day in Western Washington of 2010.

Now that you have a little background, you can imagine my and Kate's excitement when we woke up on Wednesday and there was sun! Blue sky and sun. In fact at 7:30 am, we went out in the back yard and had a good swing. That is when I looked around and realized that my garden was in full bloom. Birds were out, the grass was fresh and the flowers were gorgeous.

That is also when I realized that sometimes you really have to just stop and look around and enjoy! I find myself so busy with everything. Checking things off the never ending to-do-lists, moving from one appointment to the next and so on. And there in the back yard, Kate giggling in her swing, my bare feet in the grass I stopped and took it in.

Of course, it only lasted a few minutes, because there were bottles to fill and a day to be started. But, we had that brief moment in our day when we enjoyed ourselves. It also left me thinking, if you aren't enjoying your life what are you doing? If you don't take the time to look around and enjoy it all, is there really a point to it all? I don't have the answer to that, but it did ring with me yesterday. And I will continue to try and stop to smell the garden.