Appreciating the simple

Sometimes it's difficult to appreciate the simple things in life with so much going on around us all of the time. While practicing positivity has definitely been a huge help for me these past few weeks, appreciating the simple has certainly been important:

The simple act of kindness from a friend who was ready to loan us money to put propane in our tank when we ran out of heat last week.

The simple solution (for now) of getting a new battery for the car when it died last week.

How simple it was to communicate about an important matter with the right people... and how positive the outcome was, even if a solution was not reached.

And there is the smaller stuff, the stuff less stressful than running out of heat, being temporarily broke and having a car break down.

The power went out here the other day and it was actually kind of nice. It wasn't long enough for the heat to be an issue (even though it was something like 9 degrees outside, or less maybe) and we always have plenty of candles and bottles filled with water lying around... it was in the evening and all three of my kids had spent the day working on a project together while I was at work - they were making a newspaper. And while it might not have been a completely appropriate newspaper (it had a PG-13 rating, which seemed uncomfortably accurate after my assessment), it did keep them creatively busy and cooperative with each other for a whole day.
At the moment when the power went out, my daughter was reading my youngest a bedtime story, and my oldest was busy working on the newspaper. It was suddenly very dark in the house but it didn't take us more than a few minutes to locate some candles and for the kids to go right back to what they were doing without missing a beat. It was a nice feeling to think that if they had been watching a movie or playing video games or even using the computer, we would have had some grumpy kids wondering what to do next. Instead it was just us grownups thrown off (recording studios don't work without power, sadly)... so we played my favorite game by candlelight.
And it was way better than watching a movie or using a computer.

Ok, I used my cell phone to take the picture without power but it is 2012...

And now today, I am feeling off. I write this post on a day that I am fighting the stress and searching a little harder to find the positivity in things. It's not too hard, but some days it requires a little extra work.

But a simple drink with some fresh fruit makes me feel a little better.

And the fact that someone is willingly driving my oldest home from drumming class for me while I make dinner certainly helps.

And the simple fact that at this very moment in time, we have everything that we need in life... and even more.

It's simple really... the hard part is remembering that.