Wednesday, July 30, 2008

An ordinary life

I've been catching up with a friend of mine from junior high/high school whom I tracked down on facebook. We've been talking about the most banal of things- life, marraige, kids, etc.

We chatted for a few minutes today, and she commented on what a nice, ordinary life I have.

At first I took it as a compliment, but as the day wore on, I began to look at that turn of phrase a bit deeper- "nice, ordinary life".

I don't know about you, but mine is anything but. Oh it may look like it from the outside, what with the happy marraige, the beautiful daughter, the dog, the house, the nice car. But my life is so much deeper than that.

There is nothing ordinary in the rush of love I feel for my child, the breathlessness she leaves me with just in being her self.

There is nothing ordinary in the love I have for my husband- my life, my hero, my love, my friend.

In the fact that I have a life I never ever dreamed possible when I was a child.

In the fact that these days I can stand and look in the mirror, and like what I see.

There is nothing ordinary in laughing with my friends until I actually pee myself.

In feeling my heart swell big enough to burst when I watch my baby girl run to me with her arms open.

In lying down at night, in a bed that is soft and giving, in a house that is warm, with a full belly, and with a mind brimming with thoughts, words, and stories.

In drawing the line with my family, in saying no, in saying I love you, and in saying goodbye.

In sitting on my back patio in the warm summer evening, watching my baby eat a popsicle, feeling just the barest breath of wind on my face, and knowing that if heaven is anything like this, I can't wait to get there.

There is nothing ordinary in my life, in my soul, in my love, or in my being.

Thank you, God, for my extraordinary ordinariness. :)