Pinholes

I spent the day limping between two locations in my house: the bed and the sofa. Staying up all night with Bubby two nights ago, along with having a touch of a cold myself had me feeling pretty low.

Fortunately my family was able to come to my rescue. While I was recuperating my kids were playing with their cousins and having a ball.

Life can be good like that.

It’s the small moments we need, the joyful ones that catch us off guard and make us guffaw, the glimpses into eternity we get when we sit so quietly we hear our breath.

Ann Voskamp writes: “A pail with a pinhole loses as much as the pail pushed right over. A whole life can be lost in minutes wasted, small moments missed.”

As I sat and listened to the chatter of children I committed myself, once again, to listening. To not missing the moments of hilarity because I have socks that need sorting. Those socks present as an emergency, knitted cotton threatening to remove all seating in the living room, but they aren’t the emergency. The emergency is in the little drops of life I miss because I get distracted by the grind of life.

What are some of the drops of life I don’t want to miss?

• My husband’s smile when he comes in the door after being gone.
• The sound of my baby’s laughter.
• The sparkle in Tres’ eye as she tells a joke and mentions to me that her favorite number is six.
• The beauty of Dos’ smile, with her teeth lined up perfect and tiny. Those teeth will be falling out all too soon.
• The thoughtfulness of my bossy eldest who is trying so hard to be grown up.
• A chance to scratch the ears of my pooch and see the tail thump hard.
• Getting a snuggle with a rabbit and marveling at its gentleness.

These aren’t shocking drips of life. But they’re important, the glue that holds my sanity and joy together. I don’t want to miss them by accident!

What are your drops of life?