{"id":379621,"date":"2012-12-14T01:46:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-14T01:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/14\/moments-ii\/"},"modified":"2012-12-14T01:46:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T01:46:00","slug":"moments-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/14\/moments-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Moments II"},"content":{"rendered":"
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* first published January 11, 2011 *<\/div>\n

I have needed today.<\/span>
<\/span>
I have looked forward to today.<\/span>
<\/span>
I don’t spend enough days devoted to pampering myself.<\/span>
<\/span>
How many of us do?<\/span>
<\/span>
Yesterday I toiled and worked and slaved at my computer, preparing for year-end. Papers up the wazoo<\/em>.<\/span>
<\/span>
Though I felt a great sense of elation when I checked off giant piles of receipts that needed reconciling, the day was one full of drudgery. I toiled until ten o’clock, so that today I wouldn’t even have to give work a cursory glance.<\/span>
<\/span>
(Okay, so I took an hour-long break and sat in the hot tub with a friend…)<\/span>
<\/span>
But today? Today is my birthday. And I chose to celebrate in personal splendor.<\/span>
<\/span>
My desire was to spend the day doing only things which bring me joy. This is how my day went:.<\/span>
<\/span>
1. I woke and made a light breakfast for some girlfriends who were coming over.<\/span>
<\/span>
2. I chatted and ate and wrote and read with my friends. Three glorious<\/em> hours!<\/span>
<\/span>
3. I sat on the couch, where I could finally admire and appreciate my Christmas tree. (Who has time for such indulgences during the holiday itself?)<\/span>
<\/span>
4. I enjoyed playing Mario Party 8 with two of my three children. I especially loved the laughter.<\/span>
<\/span>
5. I lounged on the sofa and read all of the well wishes from my friends.<\/span>
<\/span>
6. I opened birthday cards that had arrived in the mail.<\/span>
<\/span>
7. I went to dinner with my family and several friends.<\/span>
<\/span>
8. I opened presents.<\/span>
<\/span>
I began the above entry on December 30. By the time my birthday festivities had ended I was pooped, too tired to finish the entry.<\/span>
<\/span>
Then New Year’s Eve arrived and I stayed up until nearly four o’clock playing cards with my husband and some friends. I haven’t done that since my college days!<\/span>
<\/span>
Needless to say, I slept half of Sunday away…then came life: work and school and evening obligations and weary…<\/span>
<\/span>
Today has brought me full circle to ten days ago.<\/span>
<\/span>
I spent yesterday on my feet, cleaning and catching up. More bookwork and laundry up the wazoo<\/em>. <\/span>
<\/span>
Right now, I am sitting on the sofa. The tree lights glisten across the room. The sun sparkles against a fresh, fluffy snowfall.<\/span>
<\/span>
I have had a simple morning. I am rested.<\/span>
<\/span>
Hubby has taken the rare day off from work. He sits on the floor, sanding and staining a piece of furniture, as he watches football.<\/span>
<\/span>
The scratch, scratch, scratch<\/em> sound of cloth against wood is somehow soothing.<\/span>
<\/span>
Moments of peace. Joy. Rest. Contentment.<\/span>
<\/span>
As I write this, a part of me wants to hold tightly to this memory, to ward off the chaos that will begin again, tomorrow.<\/span>
<\/span>
Even as I write those words, though, I recognize how important the diversity is, how vital it is to have balance in life. How many times have I said that, if we didn’t have the ugly, we couldn’t appreciate the beauty. If we don’t have the stress, we can’t appreciate the moments.<\/span>
<\/span>
Maybe that is what the wise ones mean by be present in the<\/em> moment<\/em>. We need to embrace it, rather than use it as a pawn against the pressures of life.<\/span>
<\/span>
Join me in the moment, then share yours, and spread the joy…<\/span>
<\/span>
Soon…<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

* This seems so appropriate for this time of year, a period full of so much hustle and bustle for some that they forget the true meaning of the season… Will you take time to embrace the moments? <\/em>*<\/span><\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

* first published January 11, 2011 * I have needed today.I have looked forward to today.I don’t spend enough days devoted to pampering myself.How many of us do?Yesterday I toiled and worked and slaved at my computer, preparing for year-end. Papers up the wazoo.Though I felt a great sense of elation when I checked off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[591,203,116,592,586,593,19,114,337,594,595],"class_list":["post-379621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-being-present-in-the-moment","tag-birthday","tag-christmas","tag-ending-stress","tag-holiday-preparations","tag-hustle-and-bustle","tag-inspiration","tag-moments","tag-moments-of-bliss","tag-snowfall","tag-year-end"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Tree-and-Snowfall.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}