It has been a while since I’ve written. We’ve had a very busy summer—camps, sports, visiting family, and of course the highlight of our summer was getting Riley, our adorable Golden Retriever puppy.

In many ways, the details of the summer might seem quite ordinary, mundane even: driving the kids to camp, potty training a dog, going to lacrosse games, having a Fourth of July barbeque. As I step back and look at the ordinariness of these details, I realize that I’ve spent much of my life avoiding such ordinariness, even resenting it for keeping from something bigger and better I was probably supposed to be doing.

This summer I experienced the beauty and peace of simply being—being with all the ordinariness, with the dog and the family and the washing up and laundry, disciplining teenagers, laughing with teenagers, watching movies, and warm hugs from my husband. It’s all here. There is nowhere to go.

Not because everything is great all the time. Life has, as the Buddhists say, a thousand joys and a thousand sorrows. But, whatever appears in my life is there for a reason. I wake up every morning to new mysteries awaiting me, new challenging ready to teach me, new joys and frustrations waiting to awaken me.

I’m tired of saying no, of wanting anything other than what is. And at this stage of my life, I’m much more interested in peace and seeing what is and meeting life on its terms. And trying, as best I can—in my little corner of the universe—to do no harm, and bring a smile maybe to one person’s face.

Blessings,

Tara