I was listening to Gretchen Rubin talk about her new book “Life in Five Senses” and thinking about what it looks like to be aware of all five senses throughout a normal day in my life. It’s easy for me to stay in my head or only pay attention to certain things- what I hear or the sheer volume of kids’ voices or blaring music for instance. But life is decidedly more fun when you live it to the fullest as a person, right? God gave us all these senses- let’s enjoy them! So I thought I’d do a monthly recap through the five senses just for the fun of it. ❤️ Here is April’s:
Seeing:
Lots of time outside with neighbor kids. My kids sitting on the front patio playing long games of Uno and Monopoly. The neighborhood at night after dark as we walk Max, the fluffy white dog we are dog sitting, for the last time that day. Bonnet Springs Park, a beautiful, sprawling open park with a new homeschool family friends. Good Friday done by the Greek Orthodox Church through a coffee shop window as they marched down the street with the cross, candles and many people. Words written from a family member that dropped a large surprise in my lap.
Hearing:
Star Wars soundtracks on repeat. Stories regaled from my oldest’s first dance. Sadie’s tiny voice using large words about important topics that she seems to understand well, even if they seem like they should be beyond her. The sound of gunshots echoing through the air at a World War II battle reenactment. The pullback click and sound of many shots fired through brand new nerf guns.
Smelling:
Scents from a rose bush we have in our own yard, but is also popular around the neighborhood that has an overpowering smell similar to the smell of a good English breakfast tea. The slightly acidic smell of Easter egg dyes mixed with the interestingly eggy smell brought by boiling dozens of eggs. Sweet odors of first times trying recipes for a variety of homemade donuts. The “wet dog” smell brought from both a wet dog and from leaving a wet towel and swimsuits in the car overnight. An Easter candle that caused me to reminisce about the taste of a Jolly Rancher hard candy. A barnyard odor that filled our lanai as we kept a chicken in there for a week or so, nursing a hurt leg and wing back to health.
Tasting:
Bitterness from the horseradish that symbolized bitter herbs as we dipped our homemade matzo bread into it during our first ever family Passover night. Aforementioned boiled eggs, fresh from our backyard. A strawberry shortcake latte from a coffee shop local to a smaller town we were driving through, that disappointingly did not taste a bit like strawberries or shortcake. Fresh and slightly tangy deliciousness of a black bean salad- like a fresh sort of salsa that can stand alone just fine or paired with the slight sweetness of coconut rice. (Double win was that not only was it delicious, but all the kids actually gobbled it up!). Homemade chicken and rice soup with all the sides and fixings at 7 pm with a dear family friend who kindly offered to bring dinner over and also graciously join us for the meal when they heard we had a busy week with Jason gone a good bit of it.
Touching:
The soft wavy fur of a big white dog that does not belong to us, but is the only dog in the world that I wouldn’t mind having belong to us. Said fur is touched multiple times a day in order to achieve that goofy doggy smile on his face. The smoothness and coolness of metal hair cutting scissors picked up to attempt a slight trim on one kid who is working on growing their hair out a bit. Burrowing my hands down into sandy dirt and fresh soil in order to plant some plants we received for free from friends, neighbors and Sadie’s school- lots of planting! The crinkly yellowed pages from a magazine that came out in the 1940’s all about World War II and how it ended. Page after page of great read alouds enjoyed with the kids. Water balloons chucked at crazy elementary age boys during our homeschool group days. The smooth bars of a merry go round on a random Thursday when we found ourselves with time to kill near a park and spent nearly an hour spinning ourselves sick.
It was a good April. ❤️