sperlygirl

with gratitude...

school years have nearly come to a close around here. with only the littlest to finish this week and things will end this week with a couple of parties, a nice high note to welcome in summer.

we have been laying low around here this past week as the oldest pirate recovers from tonsil surgery. all is well and i am hopeful this will help alleviate the many rounds of strep we seem to endlessly battle around here. 

somewhere within all of the busyness that comes with the close of another school year, the pirates and i were able to assemble tokens of appreciation to be given to their teachers for all they have given us this year. we are grateful for their tireless efforts!! 

using recycled cans (washed and with holes punched in the bottom for drainage), we planted some pretty succulents that have taken abundant residence in our garden. the boys painted washes of color on watercolor paper and we glued around the can with a teeny tag. 

a small but heartfelt gift of appreciation to share....and grow.

 

grateful for...

i am grateful for much in my world, but one gift in particular is this exchange between these three incredible women. each one has shared not only a sweet friendship and creative inspiration, but rallies along the sidelines cheering on and offering up wisdom, encouragement, and laughter.

we exchange mail and whenever i find a package from one of them in the box, well, it feels a bit like the holidays! talk about feeding the creative spirit and nourishing the soul - that's exactly what it feels like i am unwrapping. above is just a sampling of their magic (and tammy makes the most beautiful glass snowmen, sadly mine had a bit of a melt down in transit, but trust me, they are incredible!)

with a grateful heart ~ xo

10 things i am loving right this very moment...

the fact that it's friday and the end of a very long week

listening to my pirates creating mother's day art in the other room with lots of "shhhhh-ing", spelling out words, and arguing with each other - but it's all wrapped in sweetness

my first time making sushi today, yum

fresh new plants at my doors that greet me with color and blooms 

my beautiful grandmother and her resolute strength 

the crazy frizzy curls this weather is giving my hair lately (what the huh?)

dusting off my flip-flops

the collection of beautiful postcards from talented artists that found their way to my box from this great exchange

an email from my best girly and how it made me smile

his answer to my question...what was the best part of your day today, kai? "drawing my robot and seeing you, mama" (melted my heart)

 

the impact of gratitude...

i am so very honored to be included in Hailey and Andrew Bartholomew's sweet book ~ a collection of shared experiences of gratitude.

flipping through the pages, i am humbled by the collective thread of gratitude and how the practice of acknowledging it can be so transformational. our stories, whether grand and extraordinary or subtle and equally as meaningful - speak, reach, spark, and encourage others.

and gratitude is just that, a practice, something we return to often to begin to realize the power and potential. it is not always easy but it does create a shift. 

my own gratitude practice is organic and free, yet always present. some evenings i feel moved to write down a handful of daily moments of things i am grateful for in a special journal dedicated to just this. i also have a small journal for each pirate to record their items too. sometimes, i email a dear one and share what i feel most grateful for at the moment. and each morning upon waking, as the to do list writes my dreams from memory and while my eyes are still blurry from sleep; i inhale deeply and think of several things i am most grateful for, to set the tone for the day. gratitude... it's a small word that contains a world of potential. 

*the book is available here, here, and here (i am told)

 

a grateful heart...

yesterday, i came home to find a package from my sweet blogging friend, kim. we share a connection and friendship that spans the sea. she makes some wonderful jewelry.

as i unwrapped the lovely trimmings and read her note, my heart skipped a beat. not only did she make me one of her beautiful copper cuffs - but inscibed on it were my very own words from my painting, and in the backgound, the impression of a dragonfly's wing. i was speechless.

this gift, her gesture - completely touched my heart - and will be a piece that i forever treasure.

november...

for a slew of reasons, november is that time where i take stock of life and feel the gratitude deeply, more so than any other time of the year. this month is fraught with memory - joyful and painful ones, but regardless of which end of the spectrum they fall, they run deep. perhaps that is why november brings the gratitude that i feel daily to the surface, so that i am able to feel it with more meaning.

for those of you who have passed through my life - some may still be here, some may only have stayed briefly, but to each of you...i simply wanted to offer a heartfelt thank you.

thank you - for what you give, for how you listened, for how you love, for your friendship, for your inspiration, for your words, for what you left, for what you took, for what you healed, for what you stir, for your laughter, for your silence, for your understanding, for your shoulder, for your hand, for your heart. your presence along my way has had an impact, has left a mark...a memory...is such a gift. 

to my friend, TMR...

dear tmr,

my grandmother always told me that when you lose someone you care about they come to speak to you in your dreams. i believe this to be true, and i have experienced it several times. i know you have come to many in their dreams so far, but the other night was the first you appeared in mine. it was not in the way i had hoped and it caused me to wake and stayed with me since.

my heart (our hearts) have been heavy since you left, mine no more than others, but collectively our grief could sink mountains. your presence in my life for the last 17 or so years was a gift. you probably would never believe me (and i can see you smirk and roll your eyes as i type this) but you taught me a lot, in ways you didn't even realize. as i ran tonight and listened to this, i felt the tinge of a lingering regret...that i didn't tell you that.

time has passed and is passing, we are all moving forward and readjusting, but your absence will leave an ever present void in all our hearts. so i simply hope that perhaps this message to you over the ethers of the internet will magically reach you and let you know the gift you were to all of us.

our love is with you...still...always

presently...

presently...

i am standing at the backdoor watching the sunlight filter between the clouds, my mug warm in my hands. the murmur of the neighborhood emerging slowly in the background providing the soundtrack to my momentary daydream.

i am listening to one of my little pirates constructing something major and solving world issues with legos from the other room, while the other silently composes dreams in his sleep.

i am catching glimpses of colors from the flowers gracing the window sills.

i am noticing the push and pull that august always seems to bring with work about to resume in just a few weeks.

i am feeling grateful that my mom is on the mend in capable hands and thankful to those who stepped in to help out and support.

i am standing here in the doorway...breathing in and breathing out...and simply savoring each and every one. 

 

returning home and finding a treasure...

and just like that, we are home. home from our nomadic nearly month long journey of visiting family, friends, and of course one very famous mouse.

we arrive exhausted yet full - full of all that love that only real-life connections with those you cherish can provide. and yet, we are also happy to be back home here in italy - back to our family of friends we have met here. 

when we arrived, a beautiful painting (left) from this amazing one was waiting for us.

for many reasons, she is treaused. she honors a friendship forever missed and yet also one that is just beginning. such is life, i suppose...a precoius cycle of beginnings and endings.

chiara, our gratitude is as deep as your talent is boundless. 

xo

today...

am coming off a great weekend. spent it catching up with friends in the neighborhood; dining with friends one night at a favorite restaurant (and feeling good from laughing so much); loving a new twist of color in my hair; spending a long evening hanging out with our sweet new neighbors; walking to the market this morning with ryder and his stuffed otter; "little o"; squeezing in a short afternoon run today; sewing up some fun teacher gifts for kai's wonderful teachers; and loving the presence of summer on the horizon - welcoming her in like an old friend.

but more importantly, today as i enjoy every moment of being home and spending time with my little folks, i am grateful to all those who have/are serving and for the families who serve right along with them on the homefronts - thank you.