A rocking chair, a Saturday night and some fireflies

It's the first day of Summer.  Not the summer solstice, actual first day of summer, but the first Saturday after the last day of school.  The 2019-2020 school year is done.  What... a .... year.  So many professional and personal struggles in a year filled with some pretty huge world wide challenges.  I will be reflecting on many of these in the days and weeks to come, and that's a good thing.  But first I need to let it go.  All of it.  

Today I am free of everything.  Today the summer stretches ahead of me like an ocean of opportunity.  Today I am ignoring the phone and the to do list and the pile of need to's.  Today I begin to recharge.  

Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Photinus_Carolinus_Fireflies.jpg

As the sun starts to go down on this blissful day of abandon, I find myself on the deck.  With every motion of my rocking chair, I can feel peace washing over me.  I'm watching the breeze as it weaves gently through the leaves on the trees.  The birds are cooing sweet lullabyes as they settle into their nests for the evening.  In the pond, the bullfrogs are billowing out their throats in full force, hoping a mate will join them on a moonlight tryst.  

At the very edge of night, the first firefly appears.  Then another and another, until the grass and the trees sparkle with them everywhere.  For an hour, they twinkle in a way that makes the stars dim in deference to their artistry and grace.  I am lost in their dance.  When the fireflies settle for the night, there is the rising moon and the sky full of stars to keep me company.  I rock gently back and forth.  

I have found my peace.

May you find what brings you yours.

image source: https://www.pikist.com/free-photo-vwgtj

Our Dad Shoes: Work Boots

Our Dad Shoes: Work Boots

It was a post inspired by Chris Cluffs @chrisjcluff.  He was starting a website about dads: being one, having one, knowing one.  He called it Our Dad Shoes and invited anyone who wanted to, to contribute to it.  There are so many amazing tributes to dads and being a dad here.  I encourage you to check out all of them https://ourdadshoes.com/home/ .  It even has it's own Twitter handle: @ourdadshoes  and hashtag: #ourdadshoes. This is not just a Father's Day website - contributions continue to be most welcome, maybe you have something you would like to add to this collection.  Thank you to Chris for including my post.

The title got me thinking about the shoes I associate most closely with my own Dad, his workboots.  My Dad didn't work in an office, although he always had a home office.  He started his career finishing concrete and then went on literally build his own business first in concrete finishing but eventually into a custom home building and land development company.  I thought about how his truck was often his office and all the memories I have of riding in that cornucopia of construction equipment, concrete dust and all things "Dad".  

I remembered a picture of me as a very young girl, standing and trying to walk in Dad's work boots.  They were huge and heavy and balancing in them was hard enough!  As always, Dad was there to catch me when I fell out of them.  I always think of my Dad as he was then, in my childhood.  While I know he is now in his late seventies, I still think of him as a 30ish, larger than life man who would always catch me when I fell and always be someone I look up to and admire.  My head knows the truth.  My heart prefers not to do the math.

Here's the link to the finished post: Work Boots

Image source