frosted flakes of thought

I was rushing yesterday morning, trying to get things finished up at home and get out the door to work.  Steve had been away for a couple of days, and I had dog duty.  Dog duty at our house means you better let the Labs out to run at least once a day, or Gabe (the biggest Lab) will remove the gate and let himself out.

I was going to let them out in the evening, as I had done the day before, but when I stepped out in the morning chill I saw a thick layer of frost on my windshield.  I scowled at the car, and knew I would have to defrost that windshield before I left.

Being the multitasker that I am, I quickly calculated that defrosting the windshield would take just long enough to let the dogs out to run.  So I turned the engine on, set the defroster on high, and walked around to the dog pen to free the pooches.

They shot through the gate, Gabe stopping briefly to slobber a good morning welcome on my hand as he rushed past me.  Caesar and Sammy sprinted off in two different directions, and old Biscuit slowly made her way out of the pen, walking past me blindly without stopping.

I walked back around to the car to see how the defrosting was progressing, and saw it had several minutes to go.  As I stood there by the car, my vision slowly refocused.  Maybe the better description would be that my sight refocused.  I started becoming more aware of the smell and crispness of the air, and how the frost was melting rapidly in the morning sunlight, water dripping in slow plopping drops onto the front steps.  I could hear it dripping, plop, plop as I looked down at the patch of grass in shadow under my feet.  The car had created a small oasis of shade, and Jack Frost was hanging onto his patch of grass with desperation, but the sun was winning.

Then I looked closer, bending over at the waist to get a good look at the leaves, and the blades of grass, covered in frost.  They looked spiky and sharp.  I grabbed my iPhone and began to take some close up photos of what I was looking at.  It was my way of remembering the sights, smells and sounds of this frosty morning.

As I looked at the frost, I began to feel a little melancholy.  The frost was rapidly disappearing, and it made me realize how transient the moments of our lives are.  I also realized how easy it is to miss the small stuff, the important moments, and get caught up in the daily rush of routine, the mundaneness of daily existence.

I realized (once again) that it is important to take these moments we have, to refocus for just a few minutes out of every day, and take a look around.  Focus on the details.  Enjoy them, and realize the importance of these small moments in our lives.

Enjoy your day today.  Look around you.  What do you see...what do you really see?


~cath xo
Twitter @jonesbabie