Gardening For The Soul

So this past weekend, the girls and I spent an amazing weekend in New York City.  I drove us down on Friday and we stayed through Sunday afternoon, although getting home was a nightmare as the GPS lost reception just at the end of the Lincoln Tunnel and before I knew it, there I was driving down 6th Ave and getting completely lost.  But that’s a story for another time!

We stayed in New Jersey but spent all three days in the city, doing all the tourist things:  Staten Island Ferry to see The Statue of Liberty, The Top of the Rock where the view across Manhattan is stunning, Times Square, 5th Ave., the 9/11 Memorial and everything in between.  The weather was hot, the city was busy and the time spent with the girls priceless, although Sarah (11) was toast by Sunday lunch time what with all the walking.

So I have been thinking to myself, what made the whole experience SO enjoyable?  What made us gel when other times we most certainly do not!  And I realized that it was the state of mind that I was in.  My brain was not focused on some thorny issue of its own making.  I was not distracted but was totally and fully present to the experience I was having.  By living moment to moment, I had such a feeling of peace and contentment.  This was even so when Victoria was shopping in awful teenage clothing stores, full of excitement and wonder as if the clothes were somehow different from those in the mall near us!  And I noticed that by me being present, it created the space for Victoria and Sarah to be there with me, too.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this sense of just being has been somewhat missing in my life recently as between work and stressing over the color of my new kitchen cabinets, tiles in both bathrooms and bannister railings for the stairs, I always seem to have something buzzing away in my brain.  But this oasis of connection with my daughters was exactly what the Dr. ordered.  And it reminded me once again that to really be free to experience all that life brings, I have to be conscious and aware, stopping to notice, listen and observe.

And the icing on my cake?  Clear results from my mammogram on Monday morning, the first in fourteen months.