Just Woke Up in Appreciation of the Beauty that Surrounds Me
My wife leaves earlier for work than I do, so I get the kids ready for school/daycare and make sure they both get where they need to go. Getting two kids ready first thing in the morning is a challenge I really didn’t know how to prepare for before having them, although I know there are other Hiveans who have even more than that (I’m lookin’ at you, 
…anyway yeah, it can be stressful, but it’s always rewarding. Usually that reward just comes in the form of getting to spend that time with my kids, which is indeed a treasure. I love giving them their hugs before they go off to spend their days doing what little teeny humans do - partly because I’m always aware, in the back of my mind, that this gift of time together is one of a limited supply, but also just because being there for and with them feels like home.
I’m fortunate to live in an area that’s pretty rural. We’ve got neighbors to our left and right, and a street that extends in either direction, stretching out in front of an endless string of interconnected neighbors. But on the other side of the road we just have a cow pasture, and our yard is pretty much open space with trees, so it really feels like our own slice of natural earth.
If you saw the plant shelves I made ( posted in the growing Indoor Gardens community), that window faces south/southeast. In the adjacent wall we have a sliding glass door, for which I’m grateful to say we still have yet to install any sort of curtain or cover. Those sliding glass doors face east, so I can always count on the rising sun filling our living room with a warm glow in the morning (until Khal Drogo comes back anyway ;).
Most days, by the time I’m getting my oldest daughter onto the bus, the youngest one is strapped in her car seat awaiting departure, and I’m already reeling as I try to organize all the work I need to get done that day. Sadly, it usually ends up being enough to stop me from slowing down and simply appreciating the present moment.
Today was an exception. No special reason, as I’m sure the sunrise is always beautiful, but I didn’t let questions like “why today?” get in the way of my surrender to the moment. Yes, I took some pictures, but that was it.
I actually waited to watermark and post these until well after I’d been forced by my daily activities to return to the normal pace of everyday life.
For those moments standing in the crisp air with my little buddy, there was nothing on earth but us, and the brilliant glow of the sun echoing off of the clouds overhead and clinging to the sides of the trees all around us.
I hope you all start your day off with wonder and amazement. We truly are lucky to be here on this incredible planet, even if only for a short time.