Living in the Simple but Joyful Moments

This last weekend, there was a definite need to get away. I'm at a very...how do I say it...unsure point in my life right now, and as I've expressed in earlier blogs, I do not do well with uncertainty. So, in the midst of all of this uncertainty, Noah and I decided that it was time to take a weekend and head up to his family cabin in Deerwood, MN. It turns out that we were the only two up there, and the weather last weekend was far from being beautiful weather for us to enjoy the outdoors. Instead, we nestled up together inside, hit up a few antique shops, read a few books, stopped for happy hour at a local bar, and did a puzzle together. That's right everyone....this young couple did the craziest of things together!!! We did a puzzle. Ha!



When I say it out loud to myself, it sounds pretty lame, but I really enjoyed that opportunity. It wasn't necessarily that we talked much while doing the puzzle, I mean don't get me wrong, we did talk. For me, it was the small accomplishment of completing something together, even though it was really small, that made me enjoy the moment. It may seem really childish, or insignificant, but I felt a lot of joy in completing that puzzle together.

I don't think that happens enough in our lives today. How often do we find happiness in the completion of such a small task with our significant other? I think sometimes we get so bogged down with the huge and often times overwhelming tasks before us, that we forget to celebrate the simple completed tasks along the way. It took a lot of undivided attention for us (the two of us can barely sit still for a half hour) to sit in one place for hours upon hours and complete that 500 piece puzzle. There were plenty of other things that "needed" to get done, but we were blessed with this opportunity to sit with each other, focus on this one thing TOGETHER, and see the completed project. As I write this, it sounds silly to me, but I think there is something significant about it.

The weekend at the cabin also gave us the opportunity to, of all things, dance. I LOVE dancing with Noah. We may look like the biggest goofballs out on the dance floor, but dancing with him is always...well let's just say it is quite the experience.

As we were taking on the challenging puzzle, we were playing some of our favorite music. The ipod was on shuffle and the great tunes continued to play on through the evening. At one point, the song from our wedding dance, "You are the Best Thing" by Ray LaMontagne started playing. We looked at each other, smiled, and before you knew it, there we were dancing to our song in the living room. Sounds cliche, but it was another perfect moment.

I know some people may read this and say, "All of that is really easy when you are newlyweds," and I am not going to disagree with you. I'm sure it gets harder to find the simple joys as life and marriage continue on. I can only imagine, but I also believe that these small moments are meant to be cherished whether we've been married for four months, or forty years. These moments mean something. Granted, they are not HUGE moments, like your wedding day, or the birth of your child, but they mean something and they too often get over looked. My hope is that throughout my life, I will remind myself to not overlook these small, but significant moments and instead, see them as a blessing and and opportunity to live in a simple, joyful moment.

What have been some of your simple, joyful moments lately? I'd love to hear about them. 

Oh, and if you would like a glimpse of Noah's wonderfully, creative dancing skills, you can check out the video of our first dance at the wedding by clicking here.

Note: Feel free to ignore the commentary between my mom and sister in the background, although it is also quite funny.