Fireworks, and a sense of wonder…

Posted by Shelah | July 6, 2009 | 10 Comments

As far as holidays go, the Fourth of July has always been a pretty low-key one for our family. My DH has often had to work, and if I remember correctly, the BIG fireworks where we lived were rained out three of the last four years. This year, the planets aligned: we had great weather, a pancake breakfast to attend (the cultural significance of which I didn’t understand until this year), sweet decorations for the bike parade, and even a three-day weekend for DH, who celebrated by buying fireworks for our kids for the first time. For the first time since we had kids, the holiday felt like a big deal.

By the time Friday night rolled around, the kids were all keyed up, too excited to sleep, too excited to wait until the actual holiday to start blowing stuff up. Once it got dark, the three big kids sat shivering in the driveway, eyes filled with exhilaration as gunpowder chickens laid fire “eggs,” flowers changed from orange to green to blue to red, and something called “Lightning Flash” burned our retinas if we looked directly at them. By the time we got inside, one of the neighborhoods down in the valley was having its fireworks show, so we all huddled in my seven-year-old”s bedroom window and watched, oohing and aahing over the booming sound, the special effects, and the spectacular colors. On Saturday night, we celebrated with more fireworks in the driveway, but this time I noticed that the kids didn’t giggle and squeal the way they had the night before. When we all crammed into the window above my bathtub to watch three different displays, all running simultaneously, the kids jockeyed for position and squabbled instead of commenting on the colors and the shapes. A couple minutes into the show, we sent the boys to bed without a fight. Then I got in bed myself.

Just two nights and we’d all had enough fireworks to last until next year. They weren’t special anymore.

I spent Saturday night thinking some of the other things that had once been exciting, but soon lost their sparkle: the new jeans that made me strut the first time I wore them, but soon became a staple of the everyday lineup; the spinning class that soon changed from an invigorating challenge to one more thing on my to-do list; the sleepless giddiness over a positive pregnancy test that turned into the daily dread of facing all-day nausea, the new car I was nervous to drive off the lot that’s now just another means of transportation.

We moved a month ago, and every day I wake up feeling grateful: for our neighbors and our ward, for the friends my kids have made, for living close to family, for my DH’s job, for the home we live in, for seasons, for a pretty canyon in which to run, for the mountains outside my window. I know I’m lucky to wake up every morning filled with contentedness.

But if I’ve learned anything over the last 30-some years, it’s that I can get used to anything. Pretty soon the home, the ward, the family, the canyon will all seem commonplace and ordinary, just like the second night of fireworks, just like the no-longer-brand-new car. And I hate that. I don’t want to lose my sense of contentment and the gratitude I feel for this blessing in my life.

So how do I hold on to it? How do you?

Category: Daily Special

Comments

10 Responses to “Fireworks, and a sense of wonder…”

traci
July 6th, 2009 @ 7:39 am

It’s hard to do! One thing I do is as I am doing something – I verbally thank God for it. Thank you Lord for the car I am getting into. Thank you for such a beautiful sky. Thank you for the rain, even tho I grumbled! Secret – even if you don’t feel like it.
And smile while you do it – even if you have to force yourself. It is contagious! As you go out in the world, compliment people and outloud say gratitude things. Not easy and you fell dumb at first – but what a blessing!
Justine
July 6th, 2009 @ 7:49 am

I have NOOOO idea how to hold on to it. Not a single idea. And it drives me crazy.
Blue
July 6th, 2009 @ 7:58 am

one of the key words in the scriptures is “Remember”. as a society we are quick to forget. all these remarkable blessings from the Lord are easy to take for granted if we are lulled into a sense of entitlement. the admonition to “Count Your Many Blessings” isn’t just for when you’re being tossed upon life’s billows.

i think the whole thing boils down to cultivating a persistent sense of gratitude for everything in our lives. each of our blessings and trials is a manifestation of the tender mercies of our lord in our lives. even the trials are turned to our good when we humble ourselves before him.

and for what it’s worth, we’ve been here exactly three years (and 3 days) and i’m STILL in love with the area, the people, the sunsets, the rainbows over Grandeur Peak, the weather, the schools, the wards, the everything. i just love it here. and i love that you’re here ♥
Sage
July 6th, 2009 @ 8:15 am

One thing that helped me remember to be grateful more frequently is to go without for awhile. We spent about five years remodeling our home (plus I served a mission to Peru) so I remember as I’m turning on the water what it was like not to have any pumping through the pipes (that I know the location of inside the walls). Likewise, I try to appreciate the warm water coming through the showerhead that I didn’t have as a missionary (even though it’s been 20 years!).

I like what has been said about gratitude and remembering. Those two things are a blessing to help keep life fresh.

I also have used photographs of my family to help me remember easier times and re-establish a better feeling toward them when necessary.

Thanks for helping me remember to gratefully remember my blessings!
Faith.Not.Fear
July 6th, 2009 @ 11:24 am

On a trip home from or back to BYU, the car we were in broke down in a desert town. We had a couple of hours to wait, and nothing to do.

In true Pollyanna fashion, we started to take turns listing things we were grateful for.

Before the car was fixed we had thought of over 100 things — the air we breathe, the food we had, the mechanics, the sunshine,….

Thanking Heavenly Father for even the little things like hot showers and sunrises, or getting through before a red light , helps you remember to thank Him for the big things when they come!

Traci — you’re right, it does feel a bit embarassing to thank Him aloud in front of people, but maybe it’ll help them see the many marvelous blessings, too!

Making gratitude a part of your regular thought process — a habit — is a good thing! You start to see all around you blessings you may not have known you had!
m&m
July 6th, 2009 @ 12:41 pm

I hope you can hold onto it. We’ve been in our house for nine years this month, and there’s hardly a day that goes by when I don’t just sort of sigh inside and think, “I love where we live.”

I don’t know how it’s stayed. I think one thing that has helped me is to sit in my favorite spot in the house nearly on a daily basis. It’s on the couch, where I can look up into the vaults of our ceiling, and it helps me remember.

I’m sitting there right now. So, maybe you can try that. Pick a favorite spot in your house, and then sit there often.

Yeah, I think that is what has helped me. Weird. Fun to make that connection.
Merry Michelle
July 6th, 2009 @ 5:53 pm

Ironically, the main way I am able to appreciate things is when they are taken away or even the threat of them being taken away. It seems the less I have– the more grateful I am.
Luisa Perkins
July 6th, 2009 @ 6:28 pm

As others have said, this is where conscious gratitude comes in.
Kerri
July 6th, 2009 @ 7:29 pm

I have found that gratitude is a state of mind, and that the more I practice it, the better I keep hold of it. The total reverse is also true, of course, and the more I grumble about life in general, the more I forget to pay attention to the things I love. I think gratitude is a gift of the spirit, and praying for it has helped me keep hold of it.

I say that, BUT I know exactly what you mean. We had an incredibly hard time in our lives. I prayed for an escape from the pain for years. When the hard times finally lifted, I couldn’t believe how quickly I took our normal life for granted. Aargh. Not fair.

And I moved to my neighborhood nine years ago, and I love it even more today than I did then. And I loved it a lot then.
Malisa
July 9th, 2009 @ 3:57 pm

Most of the time I feel like I have been quite grateful for my blessings, until lately. This is much of what I’m struggling with right now – wanting something different, when I really am so blessed right now. Thanks for the reminder to be grateful for what I have!