These days, I hear a lot about the importance of “being present” and “in the moment.” I’ve even heard it explained that you should actually experience the water against your hands while washing the dishes, etc. This idea of presence can lead me to feel like I’m really falling short in this area of my life. My head is, more often than not, locked into something completely ‘off-topic.’ But this month, I’ve had a little awakening when it comes to how I’d like to think about being present moving forward.

We’ve just completed Back to School Night season. After attending almost a decade of Back to School Nights, I feel pretty confident we have a handle on how things run in the Guilford school system. So, I didn’t feel the need to truly focus on the learning modules in the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth grades. What I needed to focus on was how deeply fortunate I feel to be parenting in a community filled with such amazing men and women. While looking around the auditoriums and classrooms I was struck with how much I truly love these people. The same is true for the teachers and administrators. It wasn’t what they were saying that I needed to be present for, I needed to take in how incredibly dedicated and hard-working the Guildford Public School staff is, not only as they are teaching my children facts and figures, but as they lead them down the path of becoming kind, respectful and responsible human beings.  

For me, there are times when…
-Church isn’t about the sermon, it’s about sitting next to like-minded people.
-Soccer isn’t about the game, it’s about being outside.
-The gym isn’t about burning calories, it’s about seeing people of all ages, shapes and sizes and thinking, THIS is what healthy women look like.
-It’s not about listening to the story my kid is telling me, it’s about looking at how flippin’ cute they are and breathing in how overwhelmingly blessed I feel to have them in my life.

I’m learning how to allow ‘being present’ to mean what I need it to mean—Being consciously connected to the love and beauty that surrounds me every day.