It’s the little things…

It was one of those days today…

The first thing Miss M said to me when I tenderly roused her from sleep this morning was, “I’m tired.” A recurrent refrain of late, my first thought was, “You and me both.” Unbeknownst to Miss M, I was coming off a weekend nightmare from which I still hadn’t fully awakened. The fates had once again played Russian roulette with our family, and although the doctors were making measured headway “extracting the bullet,” I was filled with an eerily familiar sense of weariness.

Snuggling close while I wracked my brain for some positivity to reroute her sluggishness, a fired up Aura suddenly leaped on my back, her high-pitched yapping breaking us both out of our doldrums. Thrilled to exit the house on time twenty minutes later, my happiness was shortlived as I noticed throngs of Town Meeting members making their way into the middle school.

“Oh no!” I groaned.

“What’s the matter, Auntie?”

“I thought Town Meeting was tonight not this morning. Auntie’s supposed to be in there right now!”

Speeding home to grab my packet after dropping Miss M off, I silently rearranged my day, then not so silently griped to my husband all the way back to the middle school.

My day continued to test me—forcing me to eat alone in the hospital cafeteria instead of with my family due to a long queue for the procedure room, then racing to pick up my mother’s medication only to discover once I got to her house that they were missing the one she needed, and last but certainly not least, arriving an hour early for Miss M’s Naval Base Camp open house.

“Well, we can either wait here or go on an adventure.”

“I want to go down there and see the water!”

A girl after my own heart…

Driving behind the Naval Base along the Newport shoreline, I asked Miss M, “So do you have any summer dreams? Summer’s almost here you know and I’d love to hear about your dreams to see if I can help any of them come true.”

She was very quiet as we drove. I finally found an unrestricted dock to explore and we sauntered by the luxury yachts, reading their names aloud.

“What would you name your boat if you had one?” I asked.

“Westchester.”

“Of course you would!”

As we drove back to the Navy Base, I asked her if she had come up with any dreams.

“I want to canter with Westchester on the beach! But I don’t think you can help make that dream come true.”

“Oh my goodness I love that dream! I may not be able to help make it come true, but I can so see you and West doing that someday!”

Driving home by myself later, I felt that same sense of weariness creeping back in—despite discovering that the Naval Base camp was going to rock, despite receiving the wonderful news that my family was on the road to recovery, despite the sun softening in the distance.

Just as I reached the turn to head home, India Arie’s “Little Things” came on the radio.  I had been fighting with myself the whole way home: “You should go to yoga. You’ve been sitting all day. Why don’t you head to Horseneck? A walk would do you good.”

But it wasn’t till I “heard” Terri and Jeanne “calling me” through India’s uplifting music that I turned the other way and headed to Horseneck.

“Searched high and low for a place where I could lay my burdens down. Aint nothing in the whole wide world like the peace that I have found. It’s the little things. And the joy they bring.”

Cranking it up, singing loudly, I felt my soul soften. Tears pooled in the corners of my eyes and I sensed the loving warmth of my sister and niece around me.

Suddenly, the car ahead of me slowed to make way for a towering doe bounding across the road. Smiling through my tears, I silently thanked them both for leading me here. The ocean appeared in the distance and as I pulled in to park, this is what awaited me.

Wind whipping through my hair, I made my way to the walking path. Picking up speed, the thunderous waves provided the perfect symphony while the pungently aromatic beach roses filled my senses. Finally reaching the wide open beach, I looked up, seeing one final gift—a tiny rainbow peeking at me through the clouds.

 

So the next time you’re having “one of those days,” I invite you to  to take a listen to India’s “Little Things” and try to remember, “It’s the little things and the joy they bring…”

 

Love,

Auntie L