You can never quite know the worth of a moment until it becomes a memory. Though my favorite memories are nothing too hyped or over-the-top, they are important. They aren't one day or one week. They are only minutes, even seconds, but they are filled with the kind of raw honesty so rare in an increasingly superficial world. I absolutely love to catch people in their most genuine form - when their walls are down and they're not looking to impress a single soul. True beauty is found in those simple moments. They are real. And I love real.
I love the way my mother smiles from her heart as I walk through the door after too many weeks away. I love even more how she never fails to drop what she's doing to give me a hug.
I love the things my husband says as he's falling asleep, the kind of truths that he is too exhausted to filter. I love how his hand moves towards mine in his sleep and how I often wake up so close to him that I can feel him breathing.
I love how my sister still calls me sweetie, an inherent reminder that she is and always will be the big sister.
I love how messages from my childhood friends almost always start as if we are in the middle of conversation - no hellos or how are you. I love how we just know that we're beyond that.
I love how my dad makes up new words to familiar songs and belts them as he wanders around the house.
I love old photo albums and home videos. I love how no matter what changes, no matter what the years give or take away, the eyes and smiles of the people I love always stay the same.
I love the sincerity in my Grandma Vera's laugh - the kind of laugh that says, "I'm lived long enough to be as loud as I'd like."
I love when people talk about their dreams - both literal and figurative - whether it be a goal or a nightmare or a crush or some strange futuristic fantasy. I feel like, for that brief moment that they are telling me their most recent dream, they are trusting me with a piece of their soul.
I love the way that people smile at their phone when they get that text they'd been anxiously waiting for.
I love scuffed up coffee tables, worn out shoes, and books so used that they're falling apart - clear evidence of a life well lived.
I love the feeling of warm socks and a cup of tea on any and all snowy days.
I love when you get so comfortable with a person that all you need is a simple eyebrow raise or head tilt and they know exactly what you're saying.
I love the "urrrr" noise people make during a big bear hug.
I love the indescribable comfort that washes over me after a good prayer.
There is so much to love about this beautiful mess we call the human experience. Too often, I have found myself buried in a dream of what could be, wishing for something supposedly better or more admirable than the life I lead. What I had forgotten is that the very things I'm taking for granted are the kind of things that others would give anything to have. I'm done with that. I'm done with fixating on the wrong things and neglecting my beautiful life. I'm going to count my many, MANY blessings in the moment, as I experience them. I've learned too many times how quickly they can be gone.
I LOVE that it's never too late to be a better version of myself. Beginning: NOW.
