Tiny Treasures

It’s hard to notice little tiny treasures these days. Like really notice them. Being a third generation (probably longer) process-oriented, project-managing, flow-charting, editing, linear-thinking person it is easy for me to bypass tiny treasures on a daily basis. But over the years, I have trained myself to see the beauty and the art in each and every day. And let’s face it, Instagram helps. Filters are magical.

I am really glad I have taken this practice to heart because when you are a process-oriented, project-managing, flow-charting, editing, linear-thinking person you tend to notice what is wrong or out of place before you notice all the things that are right. This goes there. No, that goes over there. Wait, that’s wrong. Hmmm, something is missing. What is missing? Give me a second…oh, got it – that should be orange, no wait…red. Yeah, definitely red.

As per usual, I was in a rush this morning to get myself and the kids out of the house in time to drop them off at school then hit the gym. I might add that this schedule is not my normal schedule and the margin for error in this kind off-process schedule is very low. Everything needs to go absolutely perfect in order for me to hit my marks.

Mornings are hectic. On most mornings, I wake up at 5:20 a.m. to hit my 6:00 a.m. CrossFit class that is about twelve minutes from my house. I can hit this schedule like clockwork four days a week. Today, however, my husband needed to leave early so that meant I needed to take a later class. One that runs right up against my drop off time at the kids’ school – which means my process is way off. When my process if off, all hell breaks loose. But despite the threat of hell breaking loose, I still managed to leave the house early to ensure that I would get everyone settled at school and then sneak to the back of the class and blend in.

All 5’11” of me.

Sneaking in to the back of the class.

That is well underway.

Think I made it? I count zero hands.

I was late by eleven minutes and I didn’t blend in. Actually, the coach was kind enough to call me out. To which I responded with attitude due to the fact that I was defensive AND guilty of being late. To which I then had to apologize for said attitude because I was in fact late and that was my problem, not his. But this is not about THAT…

What IS this about?

Oh yeah, so as I was rushing around this morning (before being late) trying to get myself ready for the gym I reached into my makeup bag for my “lip stuff.” I don’t know what to call a small tube of Aquaphor except “lip stuff” because it isn’t glossy so it isn’t lip gloss and it isn’t tinted so it’s not lipstick and it’s not really chapstick or lip balm – so, “lip stuff” it is. Anyway, it was missing. All my tubes of lip stuff, lip stick, lip gloss, chapstick, what have you go missing on a regular basis. I have a little bitty princess that likes to take the “lippies” and put them all over her face kind of like the Joker. Not the perfectly drawn Jack Nicholson “Joker,” but the smudgy, psychotic Heath Ledger (Rest in Peace) “Joker.” It’s quite nice.

I searched all the usual areas where she hides my things and finally glanced over to her little princess dressing table. No “lip stuff,” but sitting perfectly on her little dressing table were my blush and brush. I stopped rushing around and in an instant a little smile spread across my face (not a Joker smile, just a regular smile).

A tiny little treasure for me to see.

I stopped all my rushing around and just sat on the edge of her bed and uncovered another kind of treasure. One that doesn’t just bring a smile to your face, but one that warms your heart. You have to search a little harder for these kinds of buried treasures, but they are there. They are everywhere.

The treasure I uncovered is that my daughter is watching me. She is watching everything that I do. When she is bossy and demanding it is because she has first seen it in me. When she is kind and compassionate and offering to help a friend, it is because she has first seen it in me. When she stands up for herself against her big brother or the kid in class who is being mean to her, she has seen me set boundaries and take care of myself too. I know it isn’t a perfect science and so much of what I do as a  mother will not be revealed to me until she is grown and on her own. But today, that little tiny treasure that brought a smile to my face – and the subsequent buried treasure that I sat on the edge of her bed and discovered just by being still and quiet – was a glimpse of the work I have already put in.

Find your tiny treasures even when the mornings are rushed and the evenings are spent and then dig a little deeper to find the buried meaning in the beauty that you have found. Keep in mind that not all treasures will seem beautiful to begin with, we have to train our eyes to see them and practice looking every day.