Admiring the Sky and the Fireflies

Posted In Gratitude,Mindfulness

As I was in my living room tonight, scolding myself for not posting more on this blog, I caught a glimpse of the evening sky out my patio door. I immediately grabbed my phone to take a picture and thought that the topic of ‘stopping to just be present and enjoy the beauty around us’ would make an excellent post.

With my phone in hand, I stepped onto the patio and opened the camera app. I started fidgeting with holding the phone steady, lining up the shot to get the tops of the trees and avoid capturing any of the buildings around me. I wanted the *perfect* photo. After about 60 seconds, my phone warned me that it was out of juice and then immediately and unceremoniously died (that “warning” left something to be desired).

I sighed loudly and thought, “There goes my blog post. No good picture, no good post!”

So then what did I do?

I stood there on my patio in the evening heat, enjoying the beauty of the sky.

Ironically, this is exactly what I was intending to write about and would have missed had I been fidgeting with my camera to take the perfect picture.

I would have missed how the clouds looked like they were backlit. I would have missed the cerulean blue of the sky. I would have missed the 5 shades of lavender and how quickly those clouds seemed to move before me.

I would have missed the silvery-green color of the leaves as they turned over in anticipation of the soon-to-arrive rain shower. I would have missed the smell of the soon-to-arrive rain.

I would have missed the birds sitting in a tree not 10 feet from me, studying me as intently as I was studying them.

I would have missed that my impatiens and basil plant needed water.

I would have missed that it was 9:30pm and still daylight out.

I would have missed the adorable neighbor kids with sparklers running around.

I would have missed the reflection of that sky in the pond next to where I live.

I would have missed my neighbor walking his two Maltese dogs. I would have missed him quietly and sweetly instructing them to be on their best behavior if they happened to see other dogs.

I would have likely missed the realization that I’m not very good at blogging, and that’s totally o.k.

I would have missed the fireflies. And I love, love, love fireflies. (“Their butts light up!” — Dan Aykroyd in the Great Outdoors)

So, although I don’t have a wonderful picture to share with you of one of the most amazingly gorgeous skies I have ever seen in my entire life, I accomplished what the original intent of the post was all about – I enjoyed the moment. I savored the beauty of what was around me.

And I managed to get a blog post up. 😉

So glad my phone died.

It was perfect timing.

Be well.

Lead image courtesy of Scott Cresswell.