I’ve been running around like crazy and you know what happens to a person whenever life gets overcomplicated. They tend to lose their marbles. Entire houses crumble when mama goes down! That is a scientific fact. I don’t need to get into further detail, right? BECAUSE YOU KNOW!
We run from one event to the next. Our lives are overscheduled and I’m not even sure we have enough time to process what is happening at any given moment. How can we? We are too busy adding filters to our moments while uploading them to social media for our friends to consume.
Wait, honey! Don’t blow your candles out, yet. Look at me! Smile. Move over a little to the left. Wait – can someone turn the lights on? I can’t see? Ok, look at me, honey. Right here. Smile. Pretend you are going to blow but don’t blow. No, don’t blow. Ok, I missed it. Can someone light the candle again?
So familiar. So. So. So. So familiar.
I’m so done. Honestly.
This week, I did something for myself. I flew to Denver to hear Gary Vee speak because it was a total bucket list thing for me. We used a Groupon and points for our hotel/flight. It wasn’t expensive, but it took a toll on my body. I had to take a redeye back because I couldn’t miss a special event at Caleb’s school. I had to be home by 11AM the following day. So, I literally did whatever I could to get home in time – which meant a 12:30AM flight home.
The WORST.
But I made it work… and my little boy was so excited for it. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. But after the Mother’s Day tea was over, my body begged me to slow down. I got into Denver at 2:30AM and I left Denver the following day at 12:30AM which meant that I needed to make up for 2 days of missed sleep.
But that couldn’t happen… because I had to shoot two campaigns on Friday. Never gets old, right? So, I put on some new clothes, sprayed my hair with an insane amount of dry shampoo and got to work. Filmed a video web commercial and took some photos for an Instagram campaign.
Done and done.
After that week was behind me, I decided that I needed to take a photo for Instagram because it was getting late and I still hadn’t posted for the day. Are you exhausted yet? Because me rehashing Friday is giving me hives. I threw on some clothes that I had in my closet and walked right out into the street and felt the sunshine for the first time in three days.
I just looked up and closed my eyes and sat in that moment for a deep inhale.
Bill announced I was done before I could exhale. After just one shot. I told him I didn’t know we started!! But he showed me and I saw my face in the shot and realized how much I needed that sunshine. I desperately needed to reconnect with nature. We put the camera away and took the party right to the backyard. We sat on our patio for a while in complete silence. I closed my eyes and I leaned on my rock and I let the day roll on and around me.
The kids found us outside and joined in on the fun. They needed it too. They really did.
I started to watch the kids and I started to feel my husband and I started to recognize that the sun was enveloping me and I realized that the most important part of my week was happening right then and there. During a nothing moment. I wasn’t running around and flying across the country to check off things from my bucket list. I wasn’t busting through a huge campaign. I wasn’t pitching or traveling or selling or anything else. I was literally doing absolutely nothing.
The nothing moments are priceless. They are what fill up a lifetime – family bonding at its finest.
Like when your kids jump into your bed for a sleepover.
Or when you meet up with Grandma for some pizza.
Or when you catch your younger cousin teaching your daughter how to play cards – something you taught her to do when she was Natalie’s age.
Or when you recognize that you are so blessed to still have your Grandmother around. And that she’s still mentally present. 
How about when you find random selfies on your phone from your teen?
Or when you catch your kids actually getting along on a vacation?
Or the second you realize that your firstborn is not a baby anymore? And that she is growing into becoming your best friend?
A warm gust of wind. The smell of the sea. Your coffee done up just the right way. Your children making a mess in the backyard. Your Sunday crossword puzzle finished. That first bloom of your garden’s tulips. The second you crawl under your comforter and into bed at night. Nothing moments. Every single day occurrences – but they are simply glorious.
I hope that you look at today, tomorrow, and the rest of your life seeking out the nothing moments. I hope we can all realize that the nothing moments are what we are going to be holding onto during our last few years. We aren’t going to care about how much money we made or how many small wonders we photographed. But we will remember the sound of our children’s’ laughter and how good we made people feel.
I wish for you a lifetime of nothing.