The extraordinary beauty of our ordinary days

My Sunday started with a swig of tea, a stroll to our cabin window to check out the view, strawberry rhubarb yogurt, a handful of grapes , some lively morning conversation and a slow walk through the woods.

How extraordinary, I thought. How soul-soothingly beautiful to turn our faces toward the sun in step with the people we love. These are the richest moments we humans can enjoy and they don’t cost us a thing except the energy we store to savor them.

Of course, the people with whom I shared my magical morning moments made them even more sublime.

My daughter Katherine’s early birthday present from her boyfriend Ed, a surprise trip home to Wisconsin, turned out to be a gift for me as well. I knew it would.

I’d started counting off the days until this weekend midway through my text conversation with Ed on New Year’s Eve. Covid sabotaged their Christmas visit and, while I kept talking about a Christmas Mulligan, Ed is the one who made it happen.

I wore my Christmas 2021 T-shirt to the airport to pick them up and could not contain my glee when I spotted them three doors down from where I parked at Mitchell Airport.

“I’m here!” I waved. “Over here! Woo hoo! Welcome home!”

Eventually, after a seven-hour drive home from Minneapolis through snow squalls, around closed highways and in the midst of three severe weather alerts, Molly joined us as well.

“Oh hey! I brought this for you,” she said, and pulled a beautiful homemade chocolate babka out of her backpack.

The rest of the weekend past in a blur of laughter, cooking, silly games and stories.

My family is currently scattered from coast-to-coast in the U.S., with a son and daughter in-law currently living in Chile. So, I’m already primed to cherish my time with them and I do.

When they’re here and the sun rises on a particularly beautiful Wisconsin morning, I am especially thrilled.

I hope you, too, found some moments of extraordinary joy in ordinary moments this weekend.

Our L.A. people enjoyed a gorgeous stroll through the Wisconsin woods Sunday morning and I was so happy to join them.
My goodness, this past Sunday morning in Wisconsin felt like a gift to us all, didn’t it?
It warmed my heart to see these two on the front porch swing.
“I brought you a chocolate babka,” she said, as she pulled this beauty out of her backpack after a grueling drive home.
We also played a little driveway basketball.
And enjoyed some good old fashioned family hugs.
I looked out our cabin window Sunday morning and thought about how rooted we are to the places and people we love.

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