things i like about my life right now, part 8

i have been a little bit whiney about a few things in my life lately, which is absolutely ridiculous. it's funny how we can get caught up in the stressful or bothersome details of life and they can be like temporary but strong blinders of how much beauty is totally around us. when i strip everything away, i am deeply, immensely happy - i feel as if my fondest and richest longings have been fulfilled in a series of miracles. but that doesn't mean the challenges hanging around go away. i love that this culmination of my aches and dreams is still hard in beautiful ways.

amidst the stress of complications at work and the complexities of planning a wedding and a new life and hardly sleeping, i've been thinking about the things i really like about my life right now, and decided it was time to make a new list. {here's all my similar lists of the past}

1. i have some super rad coworkers that inspire me. we have lots of new teachers at our schools (we opened our second middle school a couple weeks ago!) and they just each have neat stories and good hearts. we had a work retreat right when i came back from utah/idaho, and it was so fun to get to know everyone. i love the diversity, yet unity in an important cause, of those i work with.

2. every night, the boy and i say a prayer together, and it's just the best. i love hearing him pray, and i love letting him hear me pray. it is so exciting to think that we are really starting a life and a family together, with god.

3. i've been to utah every other weekend since i came back from all the reunions - to try on wedding dresses and solidify venues and look at decor options and go to bridal showers. how great is that?! i am a really, really terrible decision maker, so this wedding planning thing has been a bit rough for me, but sometimes it is insanely fun. every once in a while it hits me that this is actually happening, and i totally freak out. it's awesome.

4. some of my former students have been here at the middle school helping out with summer school, and it is so fantastic to see them. they were so excited to hear that i am getting married (they met the boy at graduation). it's just wonderful to reconnect with them, and to see them out there at p.e. with new students, being leaders and glowing with high-school-status pride. last friday we had an all-campus assembly outside at the end of the summer school day (that's 650 students participating in different competitions and cheering each other on - it's pretty neat). one of my students led all these hundreds and hundreds of kids in our school "battle cry" and it totally made my eyes sweat. it's also fun to see other returning students from last year - kids i knew but weren't in my classroom. i just love them and think they are the coolest.



5. i've kept my exercise-every-single-day-for-thirty-minutes goal without any exceptions, and i'm pretty proud of myself. it's august 11 and i haven't missed a single day this year. i particularly enjoy walks and runs that i take with the boy around the tree-lined streets of old palo alto, usually in the dark. gosh, i love him.

6. sometimes, in crystally every-day moments, a huge wave of aqua gratitude just washes over me as i remember that i have found my square peg, and that the beautiful-hard experience of our love is totally permanent. and i just can't believe how thankful i feel.

with this grateful heart, the future sure is bright.

{artwork by katie daisy and jimmymarble}