Mix It Up Monday: Listen

I’ve learned to listen to that little voice in my head. As I was walking out the door to pick up pizza for Friday night’s dinner, that little voice told me to grab my Nikon, which was sitting on the kitchen table next to my purse. It was a pretty stormy afternoon, and the clouds were still rolling in and out from various directions. After I picked up the pizza and was headed home, I looked to the west and saw the most beautiful cloud formations…with little stripes of pink and green peeking out from above. I’ve seen this phenomenon several times, caused by some sort of refraction of the sun’s light bouncing around above and behind the clouds, and each time, I’ve always tried to capture it on film. In this shot, the colors still don’t quite match what I saw in person, but they are pretty close. I think a camera simply cannot capture the full beauty of what’s happening up there.  I've titled it "Listen," and you can find it in my shop here.  This would be incredibly beautiful very large!  I'm thinking of doing a large canvas print for my office.

Speaking of listening, I’m also reminded daily that my girls are little sponges, listening and soaking up information when I may not even realize it. After I put the girls to bed Friday night, I piddled around the house a bit and then went to feed Tink and Savannah before hitting the sack. As I bent over to put the food in their bowls, out of nowhere a sobbing Olivia grabbed the back of my legs. When I turned around to ask her what was wrong, all she could get out was “I….don’t…want….to….move….” between sobs. I took me a while to figure out what she was saying, but when I finally did, I couldn’t figure out what triggered these tears. Because she was crying so hard, I had a really hard time understanding her, but it kept coming back to not wanting to move because she’d miss her friends. When I kept asking her what made her think we were going to move, she said the movie. They had watched Toy Story that night, and if I recall correctly, the little boy and his family move in the end, almost leaving behind one of his favorite toys. My sweet Livvie is so tender-hearted.

I convinced her that we weren’t planning on moving any time soon and even if we did move, we’d probably stay in the same area, and she’d still see her friends. Though I think the movie triggered the whole episode, it reminded me how much these little ones are always listening, even when you think they aren’t. Benny and I do talk about putting the house up for sale and moving every now and then, but it’s mostly centered around what we’ll do when the girls hit high school. The high school we are zoned for is definitely on the lower end of the scale in terms of performance. This is the only home the girls have ever known, and I guess I didn't realize that their overhearing casual talk about moving one day might really hit them hard.  Now I know. I’d love for them to still be able to call this home once they’ve gone away to college and started lives of their own, but I’m not sure that’s realistic. Heck, we’ll probably have to sell the house to put them through college! But I guess only time will tell. In the meantime, I’ll keep listening to my inner voice and try to remember that little ears are always listening as well.