It’s the Fourth of July holiday in the US today, and I’m off to view a parade soon, so I’ll keep it short. Each day this week, I’m posting about my “daily vacation” — some little thing I’ve chosen to really savor. Noticing the good moments can help them expand — perhaps to the same degree as the clock-watching bad/boring ones.
(I write about this topic more in Off the Clock — please check it out if you haven’t already!)
Anyway, this morning after breakfast I decided to have dessert. Yes! Last night my husband and I went out for dinner (itself a savoring occasion) and then went to get groceries at Wegman’s. I got a container of the dark chocolate sea salt caramels. This morning — while the little kids were out doing a scavenger hunt — I ate one very slowly, all by myself, at the kitchen table. I have a tendency to totally inhale chocolate, so eating it at a more leisurely pace was nice. I noticed the taste of the chocolate, the texture of the caramel, the little salty explosions when those crystals hit my tongue.
Chocolates don’t really photograph well, so I’m putting a different photo on this post, but that was my vacation for the day. What was yours?
Here’s an unplanned and reframing savor: my 8 year old daughter is sick with fever and stomachache today. Instead of a day trip to the beach, we are hanging at home. After lunch we put on pajamas and crawled in bed and read stories, like we do at night but hardly ever in the daytime anymore. We’ve been picking at random from “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” at bedtime lately; this afternoon in honor of Independence Day, we binge-read all the ones about Americans in the book. I hate that my daughter doesn’t feel well, and I would have liked going to the beach, but I sure savored that snuggle and her thanking me for lying down with her and reading aloud.
@Fan – what a great way to reframe this! And yes those snuggles with big kids are worth savoring when they happen (even less for me with older boys!)
I got to drive into the city (Indianapolis) with my husband, and thoroughly enjoyed it. He works in Fort Wayne and lives there during the week, so any prolonged time I get to spend with him (like in the car!) is a special treat.
@Ruth – sounds very nice! Even car time can be savoring time.
My savoring time was making a blueberry-peach crisp. I love to bake, but since my work hours have almost doubled this past year, I rarely put aside time to enjoy making something. I paid attention to each step and enjoyed the smells, the textures, and the flavors of the fruit I snuck out of the bowl. It was a perfect time of peace.
@Joy – sounds lovely! And blueberries and peaches are perfect right now. Just ripe for savoring.
This sounds awesome! What a way to enjoy and savor the process. Bet it was delicious – I will have to try that the next time I am baking.
We went to a 4th of July party and there was a massive slip and slide and I watched my son delight in glee as he went down over and over again. He got really good a going face first and then flipping his body with ease to be on his bum for the rest of it. I was amazed at how quickly he could switch his body and pivot, I liked that vibe!