Connecting

Today finds me thinking about connecting. Breen reminded me yesterday of something that happened with our next door neighbor a few days ago. Our neighbors are a bit wacky and very often behave like inconsiderate fucktards. I've noticed that I've expended a considerable amount of energy lately complaining about them. I have this awareness that it raises my stress level when I create this drama. So, we were out on our front porch the other day spraying for ants. Our neighbor struck up a conversation with us about the ants. Breen gave him one word answers; I engaged him with the entire history of our ant problems. Later, knowing how I complain about them, I think Breen wondered why I engaged in any conversation with the neighbor at all. True, I tend to strike up conversations with just about anyone who walks by. I don't need to take in every stray cat off the street and perhaps I should use better judgement sometimes. I know I have this habit of being too nice and easy going at times. BUT....what is the harm in making small connections with other people, even if they annoy us? It takes so much energy to dislike someone and it feels so good to make even the smallest of connections.

As many of you know, my son has Aspergers. He's more of a challenge now that he turned 13. He spends lots of time in his room on his computer. Socializing and connecting with people is a nightmare for him. Admittedly, he's been getting on my nerves lately with his behavior. When I feel this way, I'm finding new ways to step away and recharge myself. When I get centered again, I know in my heart that every single human being on this planet desires to connect with someone and deserves to be loved. As Confucius said, "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." How can my son possibly know that I know how he feels? I've walked so many miles in those shoes where I thought that everything was ugly and that I was damaged. But ever so slowly, God finally came through and sent me on the path of beauty seeking. Life has been a gorgeous place ever since. Yesterday, I decided to get Max out of the house and have some connection time with him and hopefully help show him some beauty in the ordinary things. We rode our bikes on our favorite trail:

We took the time to literally smell the flowers and eat honeysuckle nectar:



The smile on his face melted my heart:

We stopped our bikes at Starbucks and nibbled on his favorite lemon cake:

We stopped and took pictures of one of his favorite train spots along the trail:


Yesterday, I helped my son connect with some joy and all it took was a bike and a piece of lemon pound cake. Does anyone else see the beauty in this?