Let it be

Capturing moments seems to be all the rage nowadays and while I'm all for snapping photos of my kids and blogging (um, hello!), I'm starting to exercise restraint with my social posts. In this day and age of Twitter, Instagram, Faceboook, Spotify and countless other forms of publishing EXACTLY who we are and what we're doing - I think we're missing out on just being. A massive spring hailstorm hit in the late morning a month or so ago. I was in Israel's room watching the kiddos go nuts with their toys and then screech to a halt as huge hailstones began to pummel the rooftop. Upon opening the window and breathing in this huge gust of cool, green air I went to reach for my phone to take a picture and post it. Since it was on my son's dresser I couldn't quite reach it and as I leaned to try, Izzy looking at the torrent of ice said, "Mommy, WOW!!" I froze and realized in that split second that I could choose to either look at what would probably be a priceless expression on my son's face or continue to reach up for my phone - I could document this moment or live it. I left my phone where it was and sat in front of the window for the next 5 minutes holding my baby girl on the right and little boy on my left and let them "oooh" and "aaah" at the amazing sights and sounds happening a few feet from our perch. Had I spent even 30 seconds opening my Instagram app, taking that picture, titling it, posting it and checking to make sure it uploaded - that would have been 30 seconds too long. I'm always going to be able to post pictures, log the song that I'm listening to, blog (babes are napping right now) and update my status, I just want to be oh so careful that I'm not overdoing it and missing out on a moment that's truly spectacular. In this last week alone there have been two different occasions that I remember drinking in and thinking how blessed my life is. One was dancing with Charlie in the shallow end of our swimming pool on a hot afternoon this last weekend. Phil Collins was singing "All of my life" (his Pandora station, by the way, completely rules), I could smell my little girl's sunscreen off the top of her head, the perfectly cool water slapping against my waist as I slowly circled, nothing in my eye line but pearly baby skin and blue water - it was so subtle and sweet. Later on, we were driving back to GP from dinner in Jacksonville and I actually had a moment where I wanted to grab my phone and tweet because what I was looking at was so beautiful...but I wanted to relish the moment so I had Ry tweet for me instead. :) The outline of the mountains pushed against this incredible pale peach color and gazing above that it swept into a huge pale blue, almost white expanse of open sky. We had the windows down so the warm evening air was swirling my hair all around my face and the smell of hay and green grass floated through our car like a symphony. It was magic. In those moments, okay, maybe just the first one really, the wise part of me held back my knee-jerk reaction (sorry you missed the skyline, babe) to barf out those details into cyberspace. They were perfectly wonderful just as they were - shared with those experiencing them first-hand. This life is flying by. Kids that I used to babysit are graduating high school, my own children seem to be learning new words and motions on a daily basis, trips and celebrations that sprinkle my calendar are coming and going at an incredible rate. So here's my challenge to myself: be here. Live a life that is actually lived, rather then chasing after moments that are gone by the time they're captured in a clever quote or fuzzy picture. Enjoy this. Cheers to breathing deep and embracing today.