Stop: Take a moment to appreciate . . .

I must tell you that last night, I went outside, and I looked up, and there was a single firefly, or lightening bug as we called them as kids. I had just had that memory surface like an old song, and there one was, come winking to me as if it wanted to say, "We are still here, same as you." I watched it fly off and I smiled. More came, but I remembered the first most acutely.

Then I searched for Old Moon, and there, between the trees, Moon played hide and seek. I laughed, because it is hard for Moon to hide its ethereal charms. I howled at it, very low and soft, just to let it know I appreciated, that I Noticed it; that I Saw it; that I Knew it.

I appreciated the night. I appreciated the firefly coming to me. I appreciated the moon playing hide and seek. I appreciated the silence and the wind in the leaves. I appreciated GMR, my friends, my life, my family, and my son and his family. The wind and the rain. The red and the purple. The black and the white. The rough and the smooth. The sleep and the waking. The different and the same. The cool and the warm. You and me. Us and them. We and they. I appreciate.

Sometimes what may seem ulgy and rough and old and lacking in beautiful color or softness or smooth is really the most beautiful of things.

Its light is there, you've only to look.

I am awed and amazed and thankful as I appreciate.

And you?

(Photos taken by Kat at Lake Junaluska)