The kaleidoscope of random moments in September has left me feeling raw and even more attentive to the very minute parts of my life. In my urgent quest to seek calm, I sometimes forget that the peace I am seeking lies in the details. What are those details?

The quiet peace of my daughter sleeping in the corner of her bed. There’s an abundance in a child’s sleep that I’ve never witnessed anywhere else.

The solitude in writing late into the night. 

A conversation between two friends. The one where silence is not awkward, but expresses an understanding.

A morning sunrise on an early run, where my only companions are the rabbits, birds and the blue sky.

The cup of coffee that follows a restful or fitful night of sleep. That first sip is a comfort that is one that can’t be conveyed, but only felt.

An unexpected moment and a random belly laugh from my daughter. It’s a laugh I want to memorize forever.

The silence and that noise that exists between family members. Between sisters. Between mothers and daughters. Between  husbands and wives. In those pauses there can be angst, happiness, anger, and yes, even resolution.

I want to leave you with the following passage that I came across in Anna Quindlen’s, A Short Guide to a Happy Life that inspired me to write about the details that move me forward in my life.

Get a life which you are not alone. Find people who you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Each time I look at my diploma, I remember that I am still a student, still learning every day how to be human. Send an email. Write a letter. Kiss your mom. Hug your dad. Get a life in which you are generous. Look around at the azaleas making fuchsia star bursts in spring;look at a full moon hanging silver in a black sky on a cold night. And realize that life is glorious, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about goodness that you want to spread it around. 

Details. I’m learning that is where peace and goodness exist.