The Need for Taking a Moment to Stop & Rest

Yesterday afternoon, while my 16 month old was cozy and warm, asleep in his crib.  I turned off the TV, turned off the radio, put the laptop aside, and slowly slid the window open. The melodic lullaby's of birds was first to greet my ears, then with it, the soft sound of a spring shower as it began to perform a sweet cadence against the windows and rooftop.  I sat down in our rocking chair, leaned back, closed my eyes,  and just listened. 

My lungs took in the fresh fragrance of springtime blooms and water soaked earth.  As my eyes watched transparent rain drops slide down the glass, I was flooded with memories of my childhood.  I remembered the simplicity of it all. I recalled my families first spring in Western Oregon, having recently moved over the Cascades from Eastern Oregon. 

I focused on one of my memories--our first home on this side of the mountains...my Great Grandma's home...or it had been. After Great Grandma passed, we had the honor of living in that sweet little home for a short time. I can still remember the familiar smell that permeated the inside of her home, and the bookshelf in her dining room that was designated for us kids. It was filled with boxes of all kinds of treasures that a child seeks to know and play with.  

 Memories of my first experiences within this house, day after day of good ol' Northwest spring rain storms, sweep past my minds eye....

There were several years growing up that my parents chose not to have a TV in the home, (looking back now, I am so thankful, for it taught me to listen and to play) instead, most of my entertainment came from playing with my two pet Gerbils,  listening to the radio, petting my cat (Katrina), playing outside (I was a complete "Tom-boy"), and sitting by the window of my bedroom. I would rest my head on my arms while watching and listening to the rain drops fall.  Having lived the last several years of my life in the desert, where we didn't get a lot of rain, my 7 year old self was easily mesmerized by the little drops of water zig-zagging their way down the window. 

As time progressed, so did technology, and with it my tendency to stop and listen to the sweet sound of the rain and drink in the smell of its' earthly goodness. Between the business of life: school, family, kids, friends, jobs, TV, Netflix, CD players, Ipods, Pandora, the Internet, and the day to day sort of stuff...somewhere in the middle of all of that...I forgot what it was like to be serenaded by the simple beauty that is all around me.

 I remembered, and it was rejuvenating and calming all at the same time.  With the constant "noises" of our lives that are, many times, 24x7. It's so refreshing to remember to have those moments of turning off all that "techy stuff", and just resting and enjoying the solitude with it's natural and organic goodness.  It's good for us--holistically (had to throw in that "buzz word"), and it's a great and valuable thing to share with our tech saavy kids as they grow up in an age where time without something on--is rare.