For the past month I’ve been feeling a bit ungrounded, in case you couldn’t tell from some earlier blog posts. Unsure of where I am or want to be or want to head. Really it’s nothing new, just the same old human condition type of thing! After a particularly exciting and crazy 18 months, I found myself in my house, in my city, in my life, asking myself what’s important to me?
As I began to sift through the answers that arose, a surprising one kept resurfacing. Along with family, friends, finding a creative outlet, getting outdoors, gardening, traveling, writing, exploring, reading, blah, blah, blah, apparently being surrounded by things I find beautiful is important to me.
I will (happily) spend hours rearranging items on a bookshelf so I like how they look. I will spend a few dollars more on a bottle of dish soap because I like the label and if I have to look at it until it runs out, I want to like to look at it. Not being a big drinker but enjoying the occasional homemade cocktail, I consider it money well spent to buy the prettier bottle, for the same reason as the aforementioned dish soap. I am a sucker for packaging, fresh flowers, and pretty glasses and plates. When I take the time to arrange my food on my plate and eat it sitting down at the table, I actually do think it tastes better.
There may have been a time when I wouldn’t have cared to admit how important such seemingly shallow things were to me. I admire friends who don’t get so sidetracked by the outward appearance of small objects. But, when it comes down to it, these things make me happy, so why not indulge? I’m fortunate enough to have a budget that allows for the more expensive soap, so why not just let it be one of the little things that helps make my world a bit more beautiful?
smagik 