“Having spent the better part of my life either trying to relive the past or experience the future before it arrives, I have come to believe that in between these two extremes is…peace.”

I saw this quote today and it really resonated with me. All afternoon I’ve been trying to figure out what’s made me so happy about the past couple of days. Normally a long holiday weekend would find me out and about, planning a small road trip, taking photos, hiking and soaking in the pre-fall sunshine. But for the past three days, I’ve barely left the house. I spent the first day doing nothing but watching tennis in my pjs with my kids. I’ve spent the last two days with the windows open, watching the US Open, giving my house a deep cleaning and fixing some things. And by fixing things, I mean making some repairs that I’ve been too busy to take care of even though they made me really unhappy. 

The more progress I made, the happier I became. Whatever I did, whether it was emptying and reorganizing my pantry or scrubbing out evidence of dirty sneakers from our carpet, I was completely there in that moment. I wasn’t distracted by anxious thoughts of our past that we’ve been reliving lately, nor was I projecting into the stress that the upcoming work week could bring. I was home, safe in my family’s space, investing my love, time, and energy into its upkeep and care. Or, as the above quote puts it, I was at peace. It’s a peace that I’ll take with me as I head into the rest of this week.