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My world has been a whirl wind of craziness in moving and building my home. I don’t know, blogging has been difficult, but it’s always beckoning me to not stay away too long.

So, I don’t think my experiences are that much different from anyone else’s. But sometimes I see things differently and that’s what happened last night.

I couldn’t wait to take my kids to the park. We loaded up the car and got ready to go. I had went about 3 minutes from my house and hit the freeway, suddenly my tire pressure warning went to zero. Cars going madly around me at 75 mph. I made my way to the berm right before a major intersection of two major freeways. And I have to be honest, I was scared.

I called my insurance and there was an hour and half wait, which would make it very dark. They told since they considered it a dangerous place where my car was pulled over I should call 911. So, I did. During this time I also contacted my boyfriend and he said, “I’ll be there.” Those words equaled instant comfort for me.

It made me think. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to give someone else joy, “Just be there.” You don’t have to come bearing gifts, you don’t have to create an atmosphere, it’s so simple. “Just be there.”

As my boyfriend kneeled on the side of the road, in the dangerous position, changing my tire, I felt such overwhelming gratitude for him, for his caring, for his desire to “just be there” for my kids and I. Yes, he had to drive to me and go out of his way, but his desire to “just be there” outweighed the inconveniences he incurred.

How often it’s so simple. How I wish I had those “just be there” moments back I’ve missed, to give someone else joy. I feel so blessed by my journey and how others have given me the blessings of these moments. It’s not too hard, give joy in just being there.

It’s been so long since I have blogged. I’ve had these moments in the last two months where Joy seemed to cheer more from the sidelines, often, way in the distance. But still I knew she was there, I didn’t want to lose her, but so many things in the last couple of weeks have attempted to pull her away. It was like seeing this beautiful field of flowers but yet, not being close enough to see the individual petals or smell their perfume. But I’m the “stop and smell the flowers and experience all they have to give”, kind of girl. I’m going full force, and not holding back.

I’ve been packing up my life, getting ready to leave a home I had for half of my lifetime. The kids and I were forced to vacate my home of 22 years, several weeks earlier than the kids and I had planned on. I’ve had moments of great motivation that I was strong enough to handle this, but then moments where I haven’t always felt that brave too.

This day, I sat amongst the boxes, seemingly a mountain of things to sort and pack before me. I was sad, I was annoyed, lol, at one point I was tempted to just pitch all my stuff. But I didn’t, I sat there silently absorbing the view of the mountain of boxes, And I this was what I looked at.

All I could see everywhere were boxes. I was surrounded and I have to admit, I didn’t feel a whole lot of joy. I stood up to stretch and take a break from taping boxes and noticed a bit of pink out the window.

I knew most of my backyard flowers had been destroyed by my previous fire. I walked to the same window behind the boxes and saw this.

It was my Rose of Sharon exploding with beautiful pink flowers. Sometime in the last couple of days it had bloomed, and I somehow had missed it. I smiled, and this great joy welled up inside of me. For days my perception of my world was boxes, but yet, as I stood up and looked from a different angle there was this beauty, there, waiting for me to notice. It was unexpected and right at that moment I needed to be reminded that sometimes there is great joy if we just change our perspective.

It didn’t change the mountain of boxes or my circumstances. It showed me that just a little shift in our perspective can create these joy moments that can get us thru some pretty tough times. I love that, I want to keep holding on to this concept.

I want to look over those mountain of problems, or burdens and fully grasp the beauty of those unexpected joy moments. Those flowers bloomed despite my lack of “Joy Perception.” I would have missed it, and I want to grasp every joy moment I can, not just for me but to share with others too.