The simple and ordinary parts of life are the most beautiful. Sure we can have big grand moments, and they produce a fun memory or joy in the moment. But I think my fondest memories have the simplest backdrops and have even less frills.

I get a huge laugh to this day when I think back on a memory from when I was around 9 years old. My best friend and I decided we needed a club house. She lived in apartments around the block from my house. The apartment complex had a back parking lot that was emptier than the one at the front of the buildings. In that parking lot was a big red dumpster that stood at an angle. We made this our club house location. We swept it out and I recall some large rocks we used as chairs. We were a club of 2 members and we thought it was cool as hell. Our little sisters always tried to join us but we declined their membership into our super cool clubhouse. It was cool and fun because it was ours and no one else’s. It’s a fond memory because it’s one with a friend I love dearly. It’s also hilarious, I mean we really thought that location was badass. It was a smelly dumpster, but it was our smelly dumpster. It was the opposite of extraordinary and it was perfection!

What if we looked at everything that way all the time? What if we saw that the ordinary was the stuff that should be the most special. Our ordinary is ours, and that’s special. That walk on the trail with my kids is the good stuff. In that moment I’m making a memory with them that’s only ours. The good stuff is spending all day playing in the yard or snuggling up to watch a movie. It’s coloring and play-doh messes. It’s having grandma take the kids overnight and staying in to do absolutely nothing but binge your favorite show with your husband. It’s planting your garden together as a family. It’s cooking out with friends and watching your kids giggle in delight playing with their own friends. All of that is the ordinary but oh so good stuff.

“I get so busy chasing the extrodinary moments that I forget about the ordinary moments” Breńe Brown (👈🏼 click this link and watch Breńe Brown the call to courage!)

I catch myself trying to up the ante. What awesome super special thing can we do now? I’m guilty of it sometimes. Chasing that next big moment. The truth is all I need is right here. I challenge you to watch Breńe Browns Netflix special and NOT cry. So many raw and not so sunny topics but ones everyone should hear and reflect on. I’m trying to be more mindful and present. Living in the right now and seeing all the beauty in it. Finding gratitude in the ordinary and knowing that with in it is where the fondest memories are blooming. The ordinary just feels like home I think. It’s comfy and cozy and surrounded with the people who matter. All the things you need right where you are. I find I’m asking myself more often , if today was my last day on earth who would I want to spend it with? and what would I want to do? The answer is never extraordinary, but rather always about doing the ordinary with the extraordinary people I love so much.