5 Really Good Things

1. This piece by Maya Stein that I read yesterday. I've been reminded over and over again recently to slow down, to take stock and really notice my life--to live it fully, not just let it pass me by. She said it so well:

Stop moving so fast, racing past street signs
like a runaway. Don't abandon your luggage
at the nearest depot. Unclench from the desire
to diminish, then disappear.

Come inside. Take off your shoes. Stay for dinner.
Here is a cup of tea, an oatmeal cookie, a novel.
Here is a fireplace, a pair of slippers, bed.
Here is the moon, and above that, the heavens.
Here is a good dream you might wake up from.
Here is everything you see, and everything you
can't quite. Now lift your head up,
with your hands if you have to,
and let each gift, singly and in its own time,
take hold.

2. The rain beating its drumbeats against the windowpanes all day yesterday. Spring rain is less melancholy, it makes everything look so luscious and green. It fills me up with fresh desire and feelings of renewal.

3. A good friend who makes me stand a little straighter, laugh a little harder, walk a little further, be a better me.

4. Knowing that school is almost out for the summer and those lazy days of nothing stretch out ahead of us, full of possibility and hot yellow sunshine. (And maybe, if I'm very very lucky, another trip to Italy!)

5. The new piece of "Magic" I just bought from the oh-so-talented Pixie Campbell. I can't stop staring at it. It's beautiful and inspiring.