Dia por Dia || Day by Day

I have two really wonderful friends who have inspired and loved on me through a large part of my life. One is Erin, a person of indescribable depth and passion. She has known me since I was a wild, wild high school sophomore, has dreamed a thousand dreams with me, and has this magical way of making any space the most comfortable, peaceful place to be.

The other is Monike, a fiery college roommate and friend who has an incomparable sense of humor, artistic touch, and a way of making tea/chocolate cookies that are to. die. for. and have cured my 4 a.m. break-downs and freak-outs.

They both have taken/are taking on a blog project that is a way to not only be accountable to themselves, but to record the daily beauties of life and share them with others. I have decided to join them. There seems to be too much over thinking and life-stealing thought patterns that ruin really wonderful moments.

I was recently came across a book titled Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist and was able to read her chapter entitled “Waiting” for free via her website. It spoke directly to these recent thoughts and feelings – hitting on something very prevalent in my life (it’s relevance is mostly thanks to the friend who knew me and my heart well enough to push it my way). In this section she writes:

But this is what I’m finding, in glimpses and flashes: this is it. This is it, in the best possible way. That thing I’m waiting for, that adventure, that movie-score-worthy experience unfolding gracefully. This is it. Normal, daily life ticking by on our streets and sidewalks, in our houses and apartments, in our beds and at our dinner tables, in our dreams and prayers and fights and secrets. This pedestrian life is the most precious thing any of us will ever experience.

This is it. That phrase plays and replays over and over in my head and she continues:

I don’t want to wait anymore. I choose to believe  that there is nothing more sacred or profound than this day. I choose to believe that there may be a thousand big moments embedded in this day, waiting to be discovered  like tiny shards of gold. The big moments are the daily, tiny  moments of courage and forgiveness and hope that we grab on to and extend to one another. That’s the drama of  life, swirling all around us, and generally I don’t even see it, because I’m too busy waiting to become whatever it is I think I am about to become. The big moments are in every hour, every conversation, every meal, every meeting.

I don’t want to wait anymore, either. And while I love movement, change, dreaming, and doing, I don’t want to be a person who is too busy to enjoy it. Who is too busy to sit down and drink a glass of wine or hot chamomile tea and watch the sunset. Who is too busy to call an old friend or lay in the hammock and just be. Or too busy sit down and write a short paragraph of something that made them laugh, challenged them, or moved them.

So, here I am. I’ll be recording these fun details of life with more frequency and hopefully with photos…taking life how it should be, day by day.

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