We celebrated my birthday last week after we got back from the fiber festival. I thought this year we would do something different and rent a boat at a nearby lake, thinking it would be really fun to be out on the lake for the day, but we missed the cutoff for the boat rentals by a few days so it wasn’t meant to be. Instead we headed to the ocean, and we had such a nice time I wouldn’t have traded it. It was overcast and a bit chilly when we first arrived, but then the sun came out and it warmed up. When we go to the ocean to celebrate one of our birthdays, it always feels like a celebration for our whole family because we all love going to the beach so darn much. I saw the word love written in the sand and it made me smile, and Bracken happily buried our feet in the sand, what a good feeling that is.

I also did some kind things for myself last week, like taking the time to clean out my two knitting tubs and then casting on three knitting projects, which made me so very happy. We went to the river by our house one evening last week too, popping by there briefly before we headed back home to make dinner. Initially we felt too busy that day to squeeze it in, but then Jeff and I decided at the spur of the moment to go and Bracken, of course, was delighted. That short period of time we spent there was such a highlight of our day. Being there, we wondered why in the world we didn’t go there more often.

The other day frustrations popped up and projects got interrupted and it felt like we could hardly make any progress on what we were wanting to focus on, so we all decided on a break from all that to go to the river. Again it was only a short period of time we spent there before dinner, but it was amazingly rejuvenating. I brought my knitting while Jeff and Bracken explored and tried to catch tiny fish and crawdads in a net to look at. I could feel our tension melting away by the minute and a deeper peace and relaxation come flowing in. We’ve all been craving time in nature and especially going to the water- the lake, the river, the ocean. Our schedule is full, our days are busy, but whenever we take the opportunity to squeeze in a little more time outside we’re all the better for it, those breathers can really work wonders.

Sometimes peace is so much closer than we think, and when we slow down our pace and breathe deeply, we can relax into the peace that lives in that quiet place inside us.