Life: Living in the Moment*

This year I have been working on living in the moment. Actually the majority of my life I have been trying to live in the moment. Sometimes my mind has a tendency to always be running when the world around me is struggling to keep up. This push and pull between my racing thoughts, and my real time moments can sometimes cause me to lean towards the overly dramatic side of things. Dear Lord those words did not taste well coming out of my mouth. But since I am feeling quite introspective tonight I might as well be honest. I have indeed been labeled a drama queen one or two... hundred times in my life. This is something I'm working on. However, when you are at war with your genetics it's sometimes a losing battle. So due to my lack of the "laid back" and "stay calm" gene I have to be mindful of this from time to time. 

Like this weekend, when we were two hours into our trip to Michigan, and I realized I left my new shorts in the dryer. The new white lacey shorts I bought specifically to wear for my 4th of July outfit. The outfit I planned a week in advance that color coordinated with my husband and daughter because I was bound and determined to get the perfect family photo, despite how difficult it is to get either of them to smile normal for a picture. See, living in the moment... it's sometimes a challenge for me. Anyways, as soon as I realized my new fate, I let out a little gasp/whimper and explained what had happened. My daughter laughed, and my husband said "no, I will not turn around to go get them, and no you will not buy a new pair in Michigan." Why he ever thought this was a necessary response still baffles me ;) I'll be honest though, a small part of me wanted to protest that there was a really awesome outlet mall not far from where we were going, but I instead made a conscious choice to live in the moment, and push pause on the part of my brain that was frantically trying to skip ahead a few days, and put together another outfit. 

In the end my jean cut off shorts lived in some pretty fun moments - they sat and talked with family they hadn't seen in a while, they walked hand and hand along side a wobbly one year old, they sat next to a pool and watched a little girl swimming and laughing with her dad, they curled up next to a handsome man and watched fire works light up the sky, and they even made a couple debuts in some pictures that will forever remind me of the moments that I {l i v e} for. 

Sometimes living in the moment is a choice. You can choose to dwell on the past, anxiously plan for the future, or you can choose to live, love and laugh in whatever moment you are living in. Whether you brought your brand new shorts, or left them behind, life goes on, and its up to you to go with it!