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I spent a day recently with a woman I haven’t been able to forget. She’s a distant relative. I had never seen her before and I may never see her again. The first thing she said when we met was, “You are stunning!” Wow, I liked her right off the bat. We spent the day driving around, looking at some old family landmarks. She thought the trees were stunning. The buildings were stunning. I swear, if I’d picked up a rock, she would have said it was stunning. It was almost as if she’d been dropped down from Mars and had never seen Earth before. Everything was absolutely stunning. (So much for me.)
Through the course of the day, I went from thinking she was a little odd to thinking she was one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met and wishing I could be more like her. I also found out through the course of the day that she didn’t have an easy or perfect life that had created this sunshiny attitude. She had experienced a serious medical event–a brain aneurysm. She had lost her career. She’d had a failed marriage. She had a number of other problems, large and small, just like anyone else, and yet she was unrelentingly positive. Her lingering medical condition had resulted in some concentration problems, she explained, which finally made sense of the way she only mentioned any of the downsides of her life in passing on her way to noticing the next stunning structure, stick, or person. She didn’t have the ability to dwell on negatives. She was in the moment, completely, utterly, blissfully.
By the end of the day, I was thinking, I want a brain aneurysm!
That seems a little drastic, though.
But, you know, this ridiculously messy “farm shih tsu” (as I call him to explain his embarrassing state when I take him to the groomer) is stunning.
The trees reflecting on the pond outside my cousin’s mother’s house are stunning.
The view of cows grazing in the meadow on the next farm over is stunning.
The sun breaking through morning fog over our farm is stunning.
And this girl who likes to climb onto the roof outside her unfinished new room just to drive me crazy is especially stunning.
What’s stunning in your world today?
Posted by Suzanne McMinn on January 13, 2008
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What’s stunning in my world today?
* an especially stunning batch of old-fashioned oatmeal. (Kicks instant oatmeal’s butt.)
* a stunningly clean closet. Makes me happy. It’s a rarity.
* a stunning, unasked-for smooch from my two-year-old. Again, it’s a rarity. He’s not a cuddler.
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By my 10 hedgehogs, by my Cocker Spaniel, by my Arabian mare, by my Christmas decorations that are still up, by the fact that I woke up healthy this morning and by the fact that I am going to my nephew’s 16th birthday party right now! :bananadance:
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Thank you so much for sharing that. For lack of a better word I’ll use one here that has sure had a work out today….This post is so STUNNING, your words are so STUNNING and YOU are so STUNNING!! I find myself coming here each and every day for my STUNNING fix of Chickens in the Road!!
….and suddenly I am seeing so many things in my life and all around me that are too STUNNINGLY numerous to mention!!
Hugs,
Hope
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Thanks for the stunning pics.
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Also, thanks for the pictures–I love to see your farm.
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I’ve already informed my sister of this site, and will tell many more so they can also share.
Thoroughly enjoyable. The photo’s are very impressive, as well as your writing. Keep up the good work, and positive attitude. Country life can be hard, but I’m sure you are the type of person who will enjoy every moment, as well as your children. They will thank you when they grow up for bringing them to the Slanted Little House.
As a child, we also had a cellar with a chain on the door, and in the winter, it was filled with lots of apples from our own orchard, pears that came from our farm, and all the canned goods that my mother prepared, the aroma was breath taking when you opened the door. Oh What Memories.
Speaking of small towns, and country living, just from your writing, I know the family you speak of. I hope you will always be AT HOME IN ROANE COUNTY.
Sharon
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…..Waking up and looking out the window at four baby goats; jumping and running up and down their enclosure waiting to be fed.
…..The summer sun rising over the mountains to the east of us. Knowing it will be a hot day, I can still feel the coolness of the early morning.
…..Watching our chickens free range in the yard, each so beautiful and different…., and so much more.
It doesn’t take an aneurisym to see the “STUNNING” in your life, just looking and listening and paying attention to where you are. Thanks for the reminder.
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