A Moment Set Aside

Today we celebrated my youngest son’s birthday.  He is complete joy, and his birth was one of the most empowering experiences of my life.  And yet I almost let this day race by.  It was a normal Monday, filled with work, errands, phone calls to make, kids to get out the door, and dinner plans.  There were many times throughout the day that I mentioned to various people that today my baby turned 1.  It sounded like I was marking the day and acknowledging it as a day to celebrate, but that was pretty much all surface.  The truth is that I kept forgetting.

Lately we have been very busy, and we’ve been re-adjusting to our time zone after travelling, and we’re fighting colds.  I have felt out of touch with myself and in need of some grounding.  I’m working on that.

But tonight, when I sat in the dark nursery with my birthday boy rocking him to sleep, just the two of us, I paused.  I let myself slip into the memories of his birth only a year ago.  It was beautiful, there was a lot of love surrounding us, and I was strong. And then life.  It truly is a miracle.

I desperately needed that moment set aside tonight.  I needed to sit with this new life, to remember the strength I bear within myself, and to feel the miraculous surrounding me.  

I have more work to do to get myself grounded again, and I’ll do it, and it will come.  But this was gift, handed over to me tonight when I wasn’t able to take the moment myself.

What is grounding you?  What have you birthed?  Where have you felt love, and joy, and strength in you and surrounding you?  I hope you can take a moment and sit with it, let it wash over you, and carry you forward.