Don't Take One Single Step For Granted.

The weather was quite brisk for a North Carolina July day. This quickly catapulted her into a quick realization. Time goes by so quickly, bringing the details along for the ride.
But the details? They are either the things most easily recalled and remembered or the things most easily forgotten. It all depends upon how one looks at life. Do you see it as a puzzle or as one giant photograph?

Since she was a child, she had kept a journal. Details and stories of what was, what could be, and the prayers she prayed with such sincerity. The day held little to be desired outside of her home. The chill in the air combined with the clouds made for a perfect excuse to read over these little slices of the past. Snippets of life caught and documented on paper.

And there is where the details were discovered.
Saint Petersburg in the dead of summer, watching fireworks from atop the Bank Of America Building.
Breakfast at the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
Trips to Richmond and DC.
New York City.
Recording Studios.
Jet ski’s and boats. The wind so overwhelmingly breathtaking as she spent days on the lake.
The scent of airports, as she pulled her luggage to the curb to wait for her car.
3...2...1 and ACTION! “CLICK!”
The sound of the camera shutters as photographers directed her to position this way and that, while pretending to enjoy the way the sand felt as it made it’s way into her bikini…
Writing at Kapps Mill, sitting on Jonathan’s front porch and strumming guitars until conversations eventually took over.
Camping at the New River with the gang, water fights, canoes, tubing…
Listening to the startling boom of artillery at Fort Bragg at all hours of the day and night.
The excitement of new college semesters.
Even the smallest things like the scent of a fresh new book.

There is not one individual who can go through this life and NOT have their own list of details. A collection of memories that ultimately make us who we are. Guide our perceptions and write our chapters.

Unfortunately, it is easy to go through this life and become distracted from these details. The very things that make life worth it all. These little gifts that remind us of just how fortunate, blessed, and happy we are.

As Bush sang it back when she was running around with a pierced belly button and two tiny braids at the front of her hair, bleaching the sky every night, and spinning around two howling moons… “It’s the little things that kill…”

Well, I disagree with that particular statement.

It’s the little things that revive.
That create beauty.
That give us reasons to be grateful.

To know that life is, and always will be, beautiful.

Hang onto the details. In the end, they're what matter the most.