Sometimes I need a reminder to slow down. I’m grateful for the busyness of work, but over the summer, I have volunteered to be part of a planning committee for a fundraising event taking place in September. It’s a cause I’m passionate about, but it’s also become my second full-time job for the past several months. I’m sure many of you can relate. Work, volunteering, family, friends, and the obligations of daily life, in general, can leave us wondering, where did the time go?
This past weekend, I was feeling overwhelmed with everything on my plate, so I decided to stop what I was doing and take a break to sit on my deck, enjoy the sunshine, and savor this last bit of summer (in Michigan, you never know how long that will be!). As I sat down on a chaise, I noticed a tiny, glistening green object nearby. A little hummingbird. It looked at me and flapped its wings, but did not fly away.
It’s hard enough to get a long look at a hummingbird as they are always on the move, flapping their wings approximately 50 times per second and flying at speeds up to 34 mph (thanks Wikipedia!). But as it settled onto the deck, I moved in to take a better look, and it let me pick it up. So there I sat for the next ten minutes, holding and petting this tiny bird, admiring its beauty. It hopped around on my hand, perhaps, like me, content to take a short break from always being on-the-go.
For that short while, my mind was consumed with only the present, not worried about checking tasks off my to-do list nor wondering how I was going to get everything done. It was just the hummingbird and me. Slowed down.
It was a moment I wanted to capture, but I had come outdoors to relax and left my phone in the house. Dilemma. Should I set the bird down and risk it flying away before I could snap a picture, or should I bring it inside with me while I get my phone and risk it getting loose in the house (I’m not sure how I would explain that to my husband)? I chose the latter. Luckily, the bird happily sat in my palm as we went inside to fetch my phone. After the photo shoot, the bird stretched its wings and flew off into the woods. It made my day!
It’s the little things…
