The Power of Small Things

Yesterday I was at the dog park with my niece, Tessa. We were taking Daisy for a walk. Daisy is the cutest cavoodle in the world and I have the honour of looking after her for a couple of weeks while her parents are overseas.

It was the most wonderful outing.

Its autumn here in Perth and the sun is warm at this time of year yet without the harshness of the summer sun. It is like sitting in front of a heater that is at the perfect temperature. The sky was bright blue, there wasn't a cloud to be seen and the air was fresh and clean.

The park is surrounded by big, tall white gums and gum trees and the wind that was blowing gently through them making them rustle happily.

Tess and I were throwing the ball for Daisy and geez, that is total joy on steroids for any ball loving dog! She ran and chased, fetched and returned over and over again. The most magnificent part of all the ball throwing for me was her smile, pure happiness and joy. That dog did not think about anything else except where that ball was and how quickly she could get to it. She galloped, she tripped herself up and she ran with total abandon. It truly was soul food for her and even more so for Tess and I who watched and enjoyed it so richly.

There is a small seating stand at the park and Tess, who sees herself as an aspiring actress, wanted us to use it as a prop and do some acting. She went first, pretending to be a cheerleader for the Hawthorn Football Club (her favourite team in the WORLD). I swiftly followed her up by pretending to be the Queen going past in a royal carriage and waving to her subjects. It felt weird at first but I could see how much fun Tess was having so I just let go and went with it. It was really quite magical by the end and we had laughed A LOT!

I took my sneakers off as we continued around the park and we ran barefoot over the soft, green grass. It is long and lush at the moment and it felt amazing on my feet. After several more laps around the grass area we decided it was time to head home. Daisy Dog was pooped and we had important matters to attend to, like making hot chocolate and working on the playlist for our next family holiday.

As I reflected on my day last night and I thought about all I was grateful for, I realised that the day had been full of small things. Small things of love, small things of joy, small things of happiness.

There is such an abundance of beauty in our day but often because those things are small, we miss them or we are moving too fast to even appreciate them.

Life really is about the small things.