I had a realization this morning.

We live in a rental house and have for the past 5 years. This was never our intention but we wanted this to be the last move and our dream property was either non-existent, not wanting to be sold, or out of our budget. So we wait.

That being said this morning after dealing once again with a plumbing issue we all found ourselves outside on our backyard beach decompressing. My 10yr old was preparing the sand for the greatest volcano anyone would have even seen with the help of my husband, my 7yr old was inside with the 2yr old Zea making a self initiated snack for us all and I was raking the part of the yard all the mulch drains into that makes walking barefoot a feat to be overcome daily. 

As I am raking  here comes Eselen with a plate of finger foods. She makes her rounds to each of us and Zea looks over at me and says “You like eat mom?” while bouncing his head up and down obviously proud of his help. It was then that everything shifted. I looked up to really see this time that my family is playing, serving and just being together building what has now become a sand fort. All the sighs of frustration that we have let out over the last week to do with the state of our current house and lack of land were silenced. I was so grateful we were living and doing and dreaming here.

 All we really want is this. This ability to be together and learn together and make inspiring projects together and taste all of life together and we are. We are right here in this temporary home that has been everything we have needed for the past 5yrs. It has been our wedding venue, the place where my youngest was born, a backyard for the classes I teach, a studio for my husband and I to create in and plenty more. We are living life now. I will need to remember this when I curse the crummy plumbing or realize how the front porch is falling down. I will be grateful that we haven’t put living on hold, just on ½ speed.

 I know this seems obvious but for me it has begun a paradigm shift. Yes we long for more and are working to find it but we shouldn’t wait on tomorrow for anything. Today holds treasures not any less fulfilling than ones made in a more permanent place. So we will enjoy the small amount of figs and peaches we get from our potted fruit trees, live as largely as we can taking advantage of every space we do have here and spend more time in the moment rather than in the future.