Asher has a blue shirt with red and yellow headphones on it. Every night I sit on my bed and fold the laundry and it seems like that shirt is always in my hands. Half fold, sleeves together and folded back, half fold again. I stop to look at the front of it for just a second when I put it on his stack of clothes because it’s my favorite.
I don’t know why. I just like him in it. Maybe because it’s his favorite, too.
Right before the laundry folding festivities, I put Elsie in her crib. Every night, I rock and nurse her, run my hand over her head and put her down and look at her for a little longer than a second. I walk away and tell her Daddy that I can’t believe how beautiful she is or that she’s ours and doesn’t it seem like she was always here? Even though all day today she fussed and cried, four teeth finally pushing through, her top four, fierce and painful. She was exhausted and frustrated and so was I and then after I put her to sleep and walked away and tried to close her door without the doorknob making that big clicking sound, I knew I’d miss her.
Tonight I thought about this scrunched up face smile she’s been using on me and I wanted to see it just one more time before tomorrow. So I just kept thinking of it while I folded laundry and felt like a strange woman sitting cross-legged on a bed, watching The Voice and chuckling over a scrunched nose in my mind’s eye.
Miles decorated a cardboard box for me tonight. He wrote on it and drew on it and inside was an Easter Egg. Inside of that was a little scrap of paper that says Hi Five. He hugged me after he gave it to me.
Do you see it? This is the extraordinary ordinary. These are the details that bring a story out of something that could seem so mundane. Writing out these details is like finding twenty bucks in the pocket of your most worn pair of jeans and then looking for more and finding millions pouring out like magic.
:::::
This is the 30th installment of Just Write, an exercise in free writing your ordinary and extraordinary moments. {Please see the details here.} I would love to read your freely written words so join me and link up below. You can add the url of your post at any time. Just be sure it’s a link to your Just Write post, not to your main page. Then please link back to this post in your post so people know where to go if they’d like to join in.) (Any links not following those two guidelines will be deleted.)
Also. Please take a moment to visit someone else who has linked up! It’s a really good way to meet new writers and get inspired by the meaning behind their moments. Word?
{ 31 comments }
I love how you embrace all these little details and make them so vivid in your mind, and in words.
Alison@Mama Wants This recently posted..Letter to My Son: Part Deux
Oh my I love this post. My post today is also about a moment that could seem mundane but is so much more.
And I do the exact same thing as I put my daughter to bed – even on the roughest of rough days, when we both desperately need a break, I still know I’ll miss her as I leave her room.
this is life. right here. captured in the simplicity and the magnitude if only we open our eyes and hearts to receive it. You nail it Heather, every time. so glad my path has crossed yours.
tara pohlkotte recently posted..Endless Summer
It is, so much more. Tonight I sat and wrote and a red bird perched on the bush outside the window- the curtains were barely parted but he was right there where I could see him and I felt like I won a prize. Because I saw a red bird, in my window. Those things add up.
Steph
Adventures In Babywearing recently posted..beaux rêves
you are so awesome at the details. you inspire me.
Jamie recently posted..Outside Today
So many times, reading your words here is like looking in a mirror that makes me see my life differently. In more color, with more focus. Thank you.
Kim Van Brunt recently posted..Love vs. Logistics: Coming Home
I feel like I’ve learned how to take these moments and really love them. These moments that used to slip me by or even leave me flustered and annoyed. I now see them as blessings. And though the moments are small, the blessing from each moment seems bigger and bigger and bigger each time. Is it because I know she’s the last? Is it because I look back and I see how much I’ve already forgotten? Or is this just part of growing up? I certainly don’t feel like a grown up.
Bridget recently posted..A hundred thousand pictures
The name of your blog does ring true with this life I am leading, so many times. And you always bring it home with that last line in your writing. Always. :)
Elaine recently posted..These Days…
Uhhh, I love your blog. I like the concept of the whole article.
Charissa recently posted..Seasonal Allergy Symptoms – What to Expect?
You took me back to those days of the scrunched up smiles, like they were yesterday. Love the details, they carry us to another place and help us see differently. Thanks for this inspiration, I needed it.
Shelly Miller recently posted..Eat This Faith
Those are beautiful moments. I’ve been having them lately, too, and wishing for the camera. In its absence, simply trying to drink in the moment and capture it.
I have a tendency to ignore the little moments because I’m too focused on the “big thing” at that moment. I need to take a step back more often. My kids are growing, fast, and I feel like sometimes, I’m missing it.
Kristin recently posted..Just Write {10}
The extraordinary ordinary pockets of time are JUST LIKE finding that extra cash in jeans before the wash. I’ve been journaling mine more and more now. Keeping some secret on sheets of paper and others I’ve been publishing on my blog. Little treasures of ordinary! I love them. I loved this. And I love writing.
Thank you for the inspiration (as always) Heather.
Alita
alita recently posted..Watching night fall
You have such a way with words – beautiful little vignettes that capture the sweetness of everyday life.
Heather recently posted..The Red Dress – Fifty Dollars
I really think that bed times are my way to re-connect with my children and myself. It’s so much easier to prepare for tomorrow after wishing them good night.
Amber recently posted..Today’s Word Is Insanity
Whoa. This was beauty!
Becky (Princess Mikkimoto) recently posted..What Happens In Vegas…
So simple. And beautiful. And I can see you folding that shirt. Smiling. Missing your Elsie. Appreciating it all. :)
Beautiful. Breathtaking. These moments and details that are our lives are “like finding twenty bucks in the pocket of your most worn pair of jeans and then looking for more and finding millions pouring out like magic.” — Just love that line.
christine recently posted..Work It Out
That. That’s really very true. And what I’ve been missing by not blogging regularly.
Amber recently posted..Sometimes, Writing is Living.
You have a very lovely thoughts to share upon us, wish you all the best and looking forward some more…
Myrna recently posted..Trucs et astuces pour bien exfolier sa peau.
It really is like finding $20 and millions more! I’ve only done “Just Write” a couple of times, but I feel like I need to print out what I wrote and tuck it away in a safe place for when my boys are grown, because these are the things I’ll miss someday & reading about them may be the closest I can come to really remembering.
I can totally relate to what you describe in today’s post – the t-shirt, the scrunched nose, all of it! It is those most mundane things about motherhood that mean so much.
Ellie {Musing Momma} recently posted..Freeze Frame {Just Write}
I don’t know why but this brought tears to my eyes. Oh wait, it must be because we are teething too (only 2 bottom teeth at 10 mo,) because I love scrunchy grins and handmade goodies from my kids, and because I watch the Voice too! Feels good to have likemindedness tonight. Thanks. :)
Aww… the high five is super sweet!
Jade @ Tasting Grace recently posted..As Spotted on the Thai Side
That really is the extraordinary-ordinary, those moments when you catch your breath and you can’t believe that this is your life, but wasn’t it always like this, and aren’t these little ones who drive you so mad, just so lovely, and aren’t you so lovely for making it through another day.
Sometimes I want to wake my girl up after I put her to bed.
Erica @ Expatria, Baby recently posted..101/366 {Underbelly}
There are some outfits that my kids wear that I can’t get rid of. Not because they are pretty but because the outfit personifies them at this age!
Gianna recently posted..Mama Highlights
Oh so perfect, I love how you hang onto every moment and appreciate it for exactly what it is.
Jessica recently posted..Imperfectly Complete
I see it.
And it is, indeed, like magic.
xo
Galit Breen recently posted..First Day, Last Day
Beautiful. Indeed, extraordinary.
Julia recently posted..Get Over It
I love this post and that whole last paragraph so much it hurts.
Ann recently posted..MADLANDIA: “Portlandia” set in Madison, Wisconsin
hey there, just started following your blog, loving the idea of Just Write and tried my first one this week. eek!
We have a similar t-shirt to the red/yellow headphones one of your little one, ours is Tom & Jerry, Never makes it to the wardrobe, always worn or in the wash!
Smiling Like I Mean It recently posted..Luke-warm tea
I simply love reading your words of wisdom Heather, you seem to say what I’m thinking in a way I could never articulate. My two children are growing so fast and I cherish all the time I can have with them, thanks for making me reflect on what I have.
Beth recently posted..How to Keep a Partner Interested
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 10 trackbacks }