I am going to be real honest here. I am over this. I am over staying at home. I am over not getting to see my family and friends. I am over hearing the words cancelled and uncertain. I am over wearing a mask to get our weekly groceries. I am over it.
I truly don’t want to come across as insensitive. I am fully aware of the realness and severity of this virus. I am not questioning the validity in any of it. I am just admitting my very human feelings of being ready to move forward.
The last couple weeks have been more of a struggle for me. The initial adrenaline of the quarantine has fully worn off. I began with a great deal of motivation and inspiration to tackle projects around the house and to do all the creative at-home things with Hudson. All of that is fully gone. My well is feeling dry and my ideas are slowly beginning to dwindle. I so desire for life to return to its normal rhythms once again.
Amidst this struggle and creative block, I am finding a few very small things that are bringing the joy. I wanted to share. Here are the first 5:
1. Audiobooks and Dishes
Is it weird if I admit I am enjoying doing dishes? The only reason I am enjoying this time is because I am listening to audiobooks. I just finished You Are the Girl for the Job by Jess Connley and recently began Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. Very different books, but both are speaking to my heart. Connley is reminding me that I am in fact the girl for the job and Gilbert is reminding me to keep on writing.
2. Fire pit and S’mores
A couple weeks into the quarantine, we decided to buy a fire pit. It was something we always talked about, but our days never seemed to have the margin to actually sit down research fire pits, order it, and then spend leisurely time at home actually enjoying it. We now have lots and lots of margin so a fire pit seemed like a timely and good idea. And it was. We have spent a lot of time around our little fire pit. It has been our evening thing we do almost every night on the weekend. There is something about fire. The smell, the light, the warmth. It brings you in. It makes you want to stay a while.
Along with my love for our new addition, I have realized my deep love for burnt marshmallows. I used to pretend I liked my marshmallows golden brown. I did not, but I thought it seemed like the cool, more patient thing to like. A perfectly, golden marshmallow. Now that is something to be proud about. But here’s the thing, I love burnt ones. And I mean, like really burnt. Like near charcoal. Like if you were to touch it, you might think it would crumble to ash. I am done pretending I like the perfectly golden one. I am all about the burnt ones. They just taste better.
3. Minestrone Soup
I have also decided that if I were a food, I would be minestrone soup. This might seem like a strange choice, but let me explain. It is hearty- full of veggies. It is varied- we are not talking about chicken noodle soup here, there is zucchini, yellow squash, celery, carrots, onion, kidney beans, great northern beans, tomatoes, and of course the lovely shell pasta.
There is a lot of life in a minestrone soup. Each bite you are not exactly certain what you will get. Not only this, but there is a simplicity to minestrone soup. It’s flavor is warm and deeply comforting and reminds you of your mama, but it is not overly extravagant. It requires meticulously chopped vegetables, broth, a few cans, and pasta. That is all. It is a weeknight meal. A meal for a quiet Sunday evening. A meal for a new mom.
There is something about this soup that I deeply resonate with and I am pretty certain I would be happy if it was the only soup I ate for the rest of my days. I am falling in even greater love with this soup after making Joanna Gaines’ Minestrone soup from her new cookbook, Magnolia Table Volume 2. Clearly it made an impression if I just spent three paragraphs rambling about soup.
4. Pulling Weeds
No need to ramble about weeds, but I do want to note how good it feels to pull out a weed and get the whole root. The smell of fresh dirt and the satisfaction of knowing it ain’t coming back is unbeatable. The past few days when I started pulling weeds in our crazy front yard that needs a lot of TLC, I did not feel overwhelmed with the work that needed to be done. I was perfectly satisfied with the few weeds I pulled, knowing it made a small dent into the jungle of weeds that we call our front yard.
5. Picking Wildflowers
Today, I also discovered that I love taking scissors and cutting some of the lovely purple wildflowers we have in our yard. Hudson is obsessed with lawnmowers and all things gardener-related. This morning after our walk as he pulled grass and made his precious lawnmower noise, I cut and arranged the wildflowers.
This I decided is even more satisfying than the weed pulling. I washed an old, beautiful vase that had been gathering dust in our garage and put the flowers in their new home. Each time I have looked over at this vase full of purple, I have smiled.
More joys coming next time!
This Mama Needs Grace 