Contented

 Today I woke with a light heart and a feeling of barely contained excitement (over what, I can't be sure). As September comes to a close, I am filled with peace and contentment. Autumn always awakens something within me that words will never adequately describe. Despite the happenings in our current world, this feeling carried me through my day. 

I spent the majority of my time in the kitchen peeling and chopping carrots. We were blessed with a great carrot harvest this year and I have enjoyed helping my Mum process it all. I glanced towards the garden just in time to see Hyrum fetching a wheel barrow and the little boys putting the freshly dug potatoes in crates for the root cellar. What a blessing it is for them to work along side their Grampa and learn to serve. 

As I washed the dishes there was a gentle breeze blowing through my kitchen window, teasing the stray hairs that had fallen from my ponytail. I had quiet music playing in the background as I worked away and enjoyed the crisp breeze on my face. 

One of the boys walked back to the house with a full egg basket at the same time friends showed up for a visit! The children enjoyed playing while we visited and filled a box of tomatoes to send home with them.

By late afternoon my house smelled of ham, and scalloped potatoes. On the counter sat a huge bowl of bread dough waiting to be shaped into loaves. The children's faint giggles streamed through the open windows, along with the golden Autumn sunshine, warming my heart and our home. The brightly colored leaves danced in the breeze across the field, captivating my attention. Camilla snuggled a sleepy Lily on her shoulder beneath a light blanket allowing me to finish some much needed tidying.

 

As the sun dipped lower in the sky, the Autumn scene out my back door became even more beautiful in the new light. Everyone gathered for dinner and enjoyed good conversation. Hyrum commented on how our home feels much happier when they are all nice and getting along and wished that it could always be that way. Things don't always go according to plan. Sometimes our days go smoothly and other days (like yesterday) I wonder how I will make it through. But days like today are cherished and the memories are stored away to help make it through the hard times that we will inevitably go through in this life. I have always loved the idea that "we write to taste life twice", and so I thought I would take a few minutes to record the simple pleasures of the day so that I can enjoy them again.

“We write to heighten our own awareness of life. We write to lure and enchant and console others. We write to serenade our lovers. We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection. We write, like Proust, to render all of it eternal, and to persuade ourselves that it is eternal. We write to be able to transcend our life, to reach beyond it. We write to teach ourselves to speak with others, to record the journey into the labyrinth. We write to expand our world when we feel strangled, or constricted, or lonely...When I don’t write, I feel my world shrinking. I feel I am in prison. I feel I lose my fire and my color. It should be a necessity, as the sea needs to heave, and I call it breathing.” ~Anaïs Nin