Normal Day

normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. 

let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart.

let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. 

let me hold you while i may, for it may not always be so. 

one day i shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.

- mary jean irion

when afternoons drag on and i wish i were relaxing on a beach somewhere, anywhere, instead of sitting at a desk or trying to trick my toddler into eating spinach, i think of this quote by mary jean irion. i try to remember that my normal days shouldn't be taken for granted. sometimes they're long, and frustrating, and rainy, but my family is healthy and together. and that's what makes life great right now. we're so lucky to be enjoying life's simplest pleasures: gathering for dinner, blowing bubbles, feeding ducks, reading bedtime stories, and celebrating every birthday and holiday with too much food and too many presents. someday, i may miss today's normal.