I just came across a wonderful quote by Kyle Lake:

” Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun. If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time. If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well. Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done-a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own. If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.”

There’s something amazing about stumbling upon a pebble and, holding it up for closer inspection, discovering it’s actually a precious rock. That’s what this quote is: a precious rock I just happened to stumble upon today. I love it because it encapsulates so well what scrapbooking is all about. It’s all about living in the moment. Savoring the extraordinariness of the ordinary. Seeing diamonds where others see coal. And celebrating that.

THIS WAS MY DIAMOND TODAY:

When I got home this afternoon after doing the thousand errands we mothers must get done, I saw a piece of paper on my chair, the one I always sit on. It was folded in a careful-haphazard way (does that make sense to you? It does if you’ve ever had a child fold something “carefully”) and covered with scotch tape. I smiled even before I could open it. After prying the tape off carefully, I unfolded the paper and saw what I, as mama, will call ART. The best part of the whole work was seeing my name in that childish scrawl: mama.

A little bit later, my son wandered into the room and, as nonchalantly as he could, asked me: “Did you see a surprise on your chair?” He, of course, got a hug from me as I said “I loved it! Thank you!”

Mmmm. Children are SUCH blessings from Heaven.