In Which There Is Beauty

Gratitudes:

1. Gift cards and ebook credit balances - it's the next best thing to free money for a bibliophile like me
2. Sweet smelling hyacinths in lovely lavender and purple hues snuggled up against 
3. My orchid, a gift from a dear friend, is growing new roots and new spikes - yay for flowers
4. Winter appears to be FINALLY over and spring is gaining momentum!

After a long, long, long winter I am delighted that spring is taking root. Quite literally. I saw some rogue crocus spikes in the grass out front, where the rabbits promptly ate the succulent bulbs in a drunken orgy of celebration and dancing with the randy squirrels. Even the squirrels are excited and it's hard to get them excited about almost anything. 

After the dreary and oh so long winter I decided it was high time to stop and look around me. What do I surround myself with? Do those things feed my spirit? 

Let me step back a moment. My husband and I have been living amidst home renovations in some form or another for the last 9 years. And before that, the house was someone else's idea of...something. Let's put it this way, the house did not reflect who I am or who we are. It was a hodge-podge of styles and eras that was less than charming. 

I knew that someday I would have a house I would be proud to call home. Then I would display beautiful things. Then I would have flowering houseplants. Then I would hang our treasured pictures. Then. I was reminded, several times in fact, that there doesn't have to be a THEN or a LATER. It can be a NOW. And for our mental and spiritual health, beauty is important. Not what other people feel is beautiful, but what you feel is beautiful. 

I may not be able to hang our treasured pictures yet or display my mom's beautiful china tea set, but I can fill vases with flowers, nurture the orchids I have gathered to me like wayward children so they grow and bloom. I can drink my tea out of pretty tea cups. I can drink my breakfast smoothies out of crystal. I can listen to magical music. Wear rings and bracelets that make me smile. Bake cookies to fill the house with comforting scents. Burn luscious candles for the same reason. Beauty doesn't have to be expensive or invasive or difficult. 

Beauty is a wonderful thing. I wish for you beauty as you walk along your journey.