I am using this week’s blog to reflect on all the abundance and blessings I have had over the past few weeks.  The definition of reflection is “the careful thought about one’s own beliefs, behavior and actions.”  Since I last posted a blog, Jon and I have spent 6 days in Barbados for a friend’s destination wedding, we were home for two days, and then traveled to Grand Lake to a house we rented for four days with the kids and grandkids.  In all of that, we celebrated Memorial Day, Teagan’s 3^rd birthday, and Jason and Michelle’s 9^th anniversary. To say the least, there were many blessings with much abundance, daily gratitude, and also personal reflection time.

The beginning of May, I was making my “to do” list of all that needed to get done before we left for Barbados.  I found that I needed to remind myself of the messages I wrote in recent blogs.  One, I had to let go of some things, and I had to remember that this is just a period of time that made the daily routine much harder and sometimes impossible.  What that meant, for me, was I first had to let go of the fact I just couldn’t get my blogs written.  That was more difficult than I realized it would be.  I felt guilty and irresponsible.  OK, I did let go of that – finally.  Second, there was a span of about 2 weeks where we were not able to work out.  Once again, more difficult than I thought it would be.  It’s amazing how quickly my body protested when I did finally get back into our workouts.  I tried to rationalize some of this by telling myself that I was carrying around 30+ pound weights MANY times a day in the form of a one, two, three, and sometimes a 5 ½ year old, climbing stairs with these weights, rolling around on the floor, and running after a certain two year old escape artist and an “I want to do everything the big kids do” one year old.  You will NOT hear me complaining about that form of exercise as it was THE best!  Now I’m even more confident that Jon and I are regularly focusing on being healthy so that we can participate and enjoy this time with the grand kids at all ages. 

Barbados was an incredible time!  Two days of travel and four days on the island, which is smaller than Lake Tahoe, gave us a chance to totally relax, celebrate the wedding of special friends, and meet people from all around the world.   The white sandy beaches, incredible sunsets, warm 87 degree temperatures but with the ocean breeze making it very comfortable, and then witnessing Robyn and Gerald being married on 5-15-2015, we felt blessed.  The Bajan people were so friendly where ever we went, we met a women’s golf coach from Northern Florida and her husband who had been an athletic trainer, an incredible young couple from England who we’re now corresponding with by email, and another couple where he had grown hops as a farmer until his retirement.  The 20 of us there for the wedding made a stronger connection throughout our days between evening dinners, a Bajan cooking class, lounging on the beach, a fabulous time dancing which included a conga line led by the bride which several of the Bajan wait staff joined in too, and of course the wedding itself with the reception under a tent on the beach.  I found myself feeling so grateful for our “play account” that we set up years ago from the book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, which I’ve referred to in the past.  We were able to totally enjoy this vacation without worrying about paying for it when we got back. Yes, it does make a difference in the financial stress level category.  (By the way, the same was true for our time in Grand Lake and renting the house!)

After 87 degrees and clear blue skies, we came home to rain and cold with two days to get all the groceries for the Grand Lake trip.  Thanks to friends, we were able to borrow car seats and pack ‘n plays for the kids and with everyone pitching in to pack the cars, we were off to the mountains.  Unfortunately, Amanda and the kids were unable to come up as they had all been sick – next time!  The mountains were beautiful and the animals loved the rain!  So we were able to see moose and elk thanks to the eagle eyes of Michelle and Garet pointing out the animals long before these eyes could see anything.  Watching the excitement of the grand kids - PRICELESS!  Once again, it was being in the moment and taking it all in! We were thankful for the brief blue skies just in time for a couple beautiful hikes, smores by the fire, listening to the river close by, and a chance for everyone to spend time together.  PRICELESS! 

Though I didn’t post anything on Memorial Day about honoring our vets, it also made me reflect on not just the importance of the day, but the importance of continually honoring our service men and women past and present each and every day.  I did have to let go of not posting on Facebook or writing a blog and only saying my own prayers of gratitude.  Hmmm…having to do a lot of letting go lately.  In my self-reflection time, I was reminded that I am a planner, I work well with a schedule, I like to have things done ahead of time, and I don’t handle things very well if my “to do” list doesn’t get completed. But I also realized that I’m getting much better at prioritizing what’s truly important.

Consciously reminding myself  to be present is becoming much easier.  I don’t want to miss anything.  Watching Teagan and Nyelle giggling as they jumped to catch the bubbles from the bubble gun, watching Bria and Teagan eating together at the little table, watching two-year-old Zane call one-year-old Nyelle “baby” and try to tickle her are all special memories!  These past few weeks gave me the chance to remind myself that blessings and abundance are all around us.  Too often we don’t take the time in our busy schedules to just sit and have a time to reflect.  It would have been easy to get caught up in all the things to do for the Grand Lake trip and not enjoy Barbados.  It would have been easy to get caught up in the bad weather and wishing things were different, weather wise, in Grand Lake.  It takes a conscious effort for all of us, to put things in perspective.  What will we remember five, ten years from now?  It definitely won’t be the fact that I missed a couple weeks of my blogs.  I will remember all the weeks that I did write.  I will also remember the sandy beaches of Barbados and the look of excitement in my grandchildren’s eyes when they saw the moose. 

I wish you a week of taking time to reflect on all the blessings and abundance you have in your life!