I always think it is amusing when people ask "what's your favorite....?" I tend have a difficult time choosing my favorite anything because I always have several "favorites". Like my "favorite" ice cream - mocha almond fudge, vanilla with caramel syrup...the list goes on. :) However, I can say what I enjoy about certain things. Like my favorites about Autumn. I love the way the mornings start out cold and crisp with a shiny light blue sky and then melt away into a lovely warm and sunny afternoon. The antics of squirrels staking out the best trees and building their leafy homes. Most of all, though, I enjoy the special treasures my daughters give me - the biggest chestnut, THE prettiest leaf EVER - only to be replaced moments later by THE prettiest leaf EVER, and my favorite treasure at the moment - a jar full of acorns which they will be planting next spring. I can't say how many of them will actually grow. However, the look of hope on their faces each time they eye the jar of magic nuts I recall the true gift of children - the wisdom of following your dreams despite what the rest of the world tells you. In truth, it is the presence of hope. I find myself hoping along beside them that every one of them will grow.

I had the most amazing workout today! I just started yoga and I tried a new workout specifically for the lower back and hips. I was amazed to find out how limber my right side was and how tight my left ! It explains a lot about the pain I have felt on my left side for about five years. *laughing* It brings me back to center myself and to really listen to my body. I think to myself about how, since the birth of my daughters, I have focused my life on them and their needs and so little on myself. It has helped them to develop a strong sense of self and an amazing amount of empathy, compassion, and love towards the world. However, I have to pause and wonder how much am I teaching them about caring for their bodies and the focus one should place on listening to what it says? I hope to become a better listener and to teach them how to quietly focus and hear what their bodies have to say too.

I spent this past weekend with friends in a cabin at Hoodsport. It was one mixed with happy uplifting moments and some growing pains for all of us. I always think of my friends as the family I choose; the ones I know well I consider my immediate family, then there's the cousins - the ones I know through others but don't know well yet, and finally the distant relatives - the ones I've heard about and have yet to meet. I always think it is interesting to spend time with people in such close quarters with little or no personal time. You really get a feel for a person since there isn't really a chance for them to put on that "for friends and guests" mask during the full 24 hours a day. It also gives you a chance to really take a look at yourself too. I once read a saying that "love is the recognition of the self in others". I find a lot to love in others, even when I am hurt by them. However, on the flip side, I have heard it said that when you dislike something about someone it is because, often times, it is something you don't like about yourself. Let's just say that I found a lot to love and dislike about my friends this weekend and it has lead me down my path of self discovery a few more steps. The wonderful thing about it is that I was able to do it amidst the beauty of nature surrounded by the love and support of my family.

Did you ever have one of those days when you start out wondering why you got out of bed? Then your family reminds you why it was a good idea. My daughters have that special gift of knowing what to do to make me smile. Like watering the plants...the same one about four times in a row. :) It's the thought that counts and it is those little gifts of love they give me that fill me with hope and happiness.

I have never blogged before..but heck - I have never tried hang gliding either and who's to say I wouldn't if the opportunity presented itself to me. When I have read other people's blogs it seems they are either filled with wisdom or something one might write in their diary. I have never been much for diaries, although they seem to be a favored gift to give me. I have no idea why. Maybe other people think I have profound wisdom to doodle on their pages. What I can say is that today is like most other days in my life...I expressed my love to the people I came in to contact with the best way I knew how, I kissed my girls and read them a story and sang them a song and said a prayer with them before bed time, and I did my best to follow my heart in all that I did.