There’s this moment sometimes. When you’re exploring.
When you pull your van off and park on the side of a road just because you saw something cool. It wasn’t planned, and it probably couldn’t be recreated. Not just because of what happened but because of how you felt.
That’s what happened to us last Saturday morning, when we were on our way to a quiet apple orchard, with visions of apple pie baking in the oven later that night.
Suddenly we saw a flight of stairs carved into the cliffs and knew we had to stop. We picked our way down a beautiful path and then scampered over the rocks until we reached the water.
I started arf-arf-ing at the seals we could see on the rocks in the distance. (Because, I’m silly now.) Apparently I have a way with marine life, because several flopped off their rocks, and within minutes, we had about eight seals putting on a show, heads bobbing and fins flapping just yards in front of us.
If the whole experience magically happened to us again tomorrow, it most likely wouldn’t feel the same.
It’s that first-time, unplanned rush that you get when you explore. It’s the feeling of being outside of time.
But there are other ways to capture this same feeling, this sense of being lost in play.
Think of how you felt when you saw your child sprint down a field and score her first goal.
Or when you stepped off your front porch in the early morning light—the whole neighborhood as quiet as the inside of your home—and headed out on a walk.
How about the last time you went out on a date with your husband and remembered what it feels like to walk hand in hand under the glow of streetlights?
Those moments—that rush—is there. We just have to keep hearts and eyes wide open.
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My question for you is, when was the last time you felt it? I’m hoping that hearing your moments will help us all better recognize our own. (Because you know, sometimes it hits in the strangest places. 🙂 Thanks, ladies!
Linked up with On My Heart.
So beautiful! A lot of your pictures look eerily similar to Okinawa beaches. Honestly this whole experience of living in Japan has been such a rush for me. We are afforded this crazy opportunity because we are a military family. We get to live and experience another culture everyday. I get to drive around Japan and go to a local grocery store and cook a local dish for my family. We are so blessed in this crazy, beautiful life. I’m in awe that this is our every day normal!
Lauren
Just last night with a full harvest moon rising low above the mountains. I pulled onto a side road and all we wandered the side of the road in awe of it shining so brightly . It was incredible and mesmerizing.
That sounds beautiful, Missy June! And it’s always best when shared with people you care about!
It was last night when we spontaneously went hiking in the state park not 5 minutes from our house. No one was there. We climbed the petrified sand dunes and marveled at creatures in our own desert tide pools, depressions in the sandstone that still hold water from the rain a couple weeks ago. The kids were having the time of their lives, scaling the mountain higher and higher, and I could barely keep up. We reached the top, soaked in the view, then kept exploring, looking for the next adventure. The moment was brief, but it was golden.
Oh man, I can practically feel it. LOVE it.
I absolutely love how you talked about the rush you get from exploring. Our family loves to explore and it really is a rush when you embrace a moment and wander off the beaten path. One of my favorite moments was when our family went to a national park in our area for the first time. We had no idea what to expect when we got there or how the kids would hold up, but it was awesome. We looked out over the Boston skyline and had a picnic together. I’ll never forget it!
Yes, I LOVE this! I had a moment like this last week where everything was unplanned but awesome and in the middle of the laughter I paused and took note of that time and how special it was.
Wow what a magical post. It has me yearning for adventure and spontaneity.
I have a hard time doing what you did my friend. We’re often in a rush getting to wherever our destination is as fast as we possibly can that we forget to look around and take things in. Thanks for the reminder!