Gratitude Is Everything

School will be back in session in less than a month.  Doesn't it seem like summer just started?

Time has flown by this summer.  It probably didn't hurt that we were on an extended driving vacation for a month, but still it has been a whirlwind this year.

Lesson planning is going to have to begin in earnest very soon.  Look out Pinterest, here I come!

The photo above was taken at sunrise when we were at the Grand Canyon.

It may be my favorite shot from the whole trip, because it captures the liquid gold of the sun as it peeked above the rim that morning.  The sky looked like it was on fire for such a beautiful yet brief moment, and I somehow managed to catch a little of that light in this snap.  It was so gloriously gorgeous.

Looking at this picture takes me right back to the cool of the morning and the walk with The Peanut from our lodge to the canyon's rim in the hazy dark just before the sun began to rise to see this in all of its glory.  It really was the trip of a lifetime, but the little moments like this one were what made it so wonderful.

After everything we had to deal with last summer with surgery and chemo, followed by a fall of radiation and its effects, being able to take this trip still feels a bit like a miracle.  The morning I snapped this shot was one filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude:  for my life, for my wonderful family, for all of the love we have for each other, for all the times they made me laugh during the worst of last year and for how they kept me going and comforted me when I needed it, and everything in between, through something that now seems so far away even though it was only just last year.

As I stood there in the darkness on the rim with The Peanut, holding her hand and shivering a bit in the cool, crisp air, waiting for the sun to peek up, all I could think about was how lucky I am.  Despite everything that I have been through, my life is so good, my blessings are so abundant, and in that moment it all washed over me like a wave.  And just at that moment, the sun began to tint the sky with a faint golden hue that rose to a wash of pure, molten gold.

That is when I took this shot.

I am just so happy and grateful looking at this picture all over again.  Gratitude is everything.


(Photo by Christy Hardin Smith, taken on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, copyright reserved.)