Thursday's Thoughts.

I bought Nixon 4 really cute dog collars off eBay in March for a dollar each. I thought I was getting some sort of incredible deal because dog collars at Petco are nearly $20. While I still feel like I got a pretty good deal, Nixon has "the hulk" busted them all off his neck and each and every one of them is broken. I ordered another one off eBay and didn't go so cheap this time, but I'm waiting for it to come in the mail. So today when he was going stir crazy to get out of the house, I decided to take him for a drive. He loves to stick his head out the window while you drive. I'm shooting some engagements tomorrow and decided to scope out some area since I'm still not all too familiar with Nashville. We went for a really long drive and it was amazing.

I have this theory that when we get to heaven we can ask Heavenly Father for an instant replay of certain moments of our lives. In my head, He has a library full of your favorite moments. This drive is going to be one of those moments I ask to watch on replay. We had just had some pretty heavy rain so the clouds were gorgeous and there was misty steam rising in the hills. We went around this bend where you can see nothing but lush green and hills and trees and cattle and it was the most beautiful thing I have seen in my life. I was just about dying because I had decided not to bring my camera with me. (stupid stupid stupid) So I took a mental picture and decided that if I come home and write about it, the picture will be recorded in heaven and I can go back and look up that moment in my library. 

While I didn't get a picture of the hills and the mist and the sunset, I did get a picture of my puppy. Nixon had his head out the window and he was just loving life. His ears and fur were blowing in the wind and he had this big doggy smile on his face. It was so cute. It was a relaxing drive with no real destination and no timeline. The lighting was so soft and elegant, it was unbelievable. And that T.I/Rihanna "Live Your Life" song came on Miles' CD that was playing the car and he said some things at the beginning (it's in his music video not the radio edit version) that gave me so much clarity in that peaceful wonderful moment I was experiencing. (who woulda thunk I'd feel a little inspiration from T.I). He said "life is an interesting journey, you never know where it'll take you. Peaks and valleys, twists and turns, you could get the surprise of your life. Sometimes on the way to where you're going you might think this is the worst time of my life. But you know what? At the end of the road, through all the adversity if you can get where you wanted to be and you remember whatever don't kill you will make you stronger then all the adversity will be worth it. What you need is to be grateful for the life you've got. Stop looking at what you aint got and start being grateful for what you do got." 

I'm not going through any particular struggle right now, life is pretty good. But sometimes I get so hung up on being in the next chapter of our lives that I forget to be grateful for the life I have. I'm living in such a beautiful part of the country right now. It's lush and green every where you look, and I will probably never live here again. I get so anxious for Miles to be done with school and graduated that sometimes I forget to realize that right now we get to move around and experience different parts of this country. We'll get to where we want to be, it's only a matter of time. But for now, I just need to sit back and enjoy the road getting there, because it's a beautiful ride. 

At least I have this image to recall when I want to remember how that drive felt. I took it with my crummy cell phone camera, but when I look at it I can't help but smile. This drive and this moment never would have happened if it weren't for those crummy $1 collars. If Nixon hadn't busted through them all, we probably would have just gone for a walk. But instead we went for a drive I won't forget.