5 amazing things

{my} list of things to do to feel good about life-
write
sit with a cat on your lap
go out {into the garden} and smell the flowers
look- really pay attention- to guinea pigs
take a walk {in the woods}
notice good things around you

there are others, to be sure, but this morning i took note of five amazing things in my bathroom while i brushed my teeth. it was a lot. it was enough. to put a smile on my mind. sometimes a mind really really needs a smile. even when it just won't budge. five amazing things did the trick- or enough of the trick- to get me over here to the computer to write, which should help to finish off the trick just enough to get my whole self outside to the garden to not only smell the flowers, but to plant some as well. double whammy of goodness this morning. and all before the kids have woken up.

so 5 amazing things i noticed in my bathroom while brushing my teeth this morning. five things i love.

there is a spider in the far left corner as you walk in who has a second egg sac that is about to hatch. her first egg sac hatched about a month ago and those spiderlings have since dispersed. we are looking forward to watching these babies hatch and disperse as well.

sitting on a frame hanging on the wall, there is a wooden block on which eva drew a picture of two green stick figures- me and eva- holding hands. i smile at the goodness in that drawing. where it came from within her to imagine holding my hand. being with me. so much love to notice in a drawing like that.

hanging on that same frame is my yin/yang necklace. some days there is nothing better than yin and yang to really sum it all up. the truth of it. the simplicity. the cliche. the cynic and the poet in me can both have a really good laugh. and a sigh. and a smile.

in the soap dish in the shower is a small plastic frog who i hope will always be there to remind me of the time when eva put her there.

standing on the top of the shower's sliding glass door are two playmobil unicorns. eva put them there during one of her baths and i keep them there. if ever they fall, i put them back up. if you look at the wall behind the door, you can see the unicorns' shadows. there is something about seeing unicorn shadows on the wall to remind you of how magical life is. how sweet. how not everything has to be put away.

with all of this gratitude skipping around in my head, smiles lingering in my mind, cleaning out the guinea pig cage seems like an amazing gift. those little guys are going to love the fresh fleece under their toes. leave it to guinea pigs. hey, that's almost my whole list. imagine that.