STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES... OR PURPLE FLOWERS

I am a lover of lists, organization, planning and following a plan. In my world, spontaneity is a four letter word. As hard as this year has been, there are some changes that it has brought to our lives that I thank God for. After coming home from work today, Matt and I went out for a run. At the end of the run, we let Lauren out of the stroller to walk with us as we cooled down. It was dinner time and I had not yet started making dinner. And Lauren was walking like she didn't have a care in the world because, let's face it, at 16 months old, how many cares do you really have?

The old Amanda in me was screaming inside, "Do you know what time it is? You have this and this and this to do for dinner and you should just get inside and get this going. Because if you don't do this soon, Lauren won't eat in time and then her bath will be late... and it continued until I think Lauren was going to grow up crooked because of her lack of green vegetables or something crazy like that." And then I took a look at Lauren and saw the pure delight that she took in walking around and jumping. I should explain the jumping. Lately she will stop, go up on her tiptoes and then throw herself forward into her walk as if she is revving up and then taking off. It looks adorable and ridiculous at the same time. My dad does a great impression of her but he looks a bit more ridiculous than adorable (no offense, Dad).

It was then that we saw the largest butterfly that I have seen in a very long time and I forgot about everything other than experiencing the butterfly through Lauren's eyes.

In the end, we still had dinner. It was late. Matt and I ate on the floor of the bathroom as Lauren played in the bath but we were together as a family and that was the most important thing.