Tiny Miracles

So, things have been... interesting and rough chez us. I won't go into details, but this picture sums up SO MUCH of what we've been dealing with.


I made the picture tiny so it wouldn't hurt so much. Yes, that's our car, and yes, that right front tire (which is completely flat) is hanging in the air. Those are Evan's legs on the left and the parking supervisor at UNC-Charlotte's shadow. sigh This, and a very sick cat... it was a lot to deal with all at once. No one was hurt but our car, thank goodness. Oh, and I'm sure Morgan Spurlock missed us at his talk.

I was heavy-hearted, people. Heavy. Hearted. Not open. Scared. And frustrated. Why, yes - that *is* the very axle we just had replaced after having parked our car for over a year. Thank you for asking.

But, you know, miracles abound. They really do. The car situation happened Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoon I decided to mow our back yard. Get out some frustrations by showing the grass *exactly* how high it could be! So there! I was walking around the yard, picking up toys, and sticks. Somehow, hundreds of sticks. And one of the times I bent down to pick up a stick, I saw them.


Tons of tiny blue flowers. I can remember seeing these as a kid, and making teeny, tiny bouquets for my mom. I couldn't understand how grownups couldn't see them! They never stopped to look at them. To me, they were miraculous. They still are. Impossibly tiny flowers, absolutely perfect miniatures. No more than 1/4 " across - and that's a big one. Here's a close-up:

Look how gorgeous! And once I started seeing, I couldn't NOT see.

Tiny wild violets:



And, OK, these aren't really tiny daisies, but that's what they look like. And they're only 1/4 of an inch wide!



Buttercups. Did you know, if you hold a buttercup under your chin, and the yellow reflects on your skin, you like butter? Did anyone ever do that to you? Every spring, with the first buttercups, my sisters and I would hold those tiny yellow flowers under each others' chins, to see. Yep! We still like butter!


Some tiny purple stars:

If you weren't looking, you might not even see them.


Here are some taller, deep purple flowers - I have no idea what they are, but I love the color:


All of these! All in my backyard! The tallest only about 3" tall!

I laughed when I saw these, they kinda look like monsters compared to the others:

Feeeed Me!

Beautiful purple monsters.

Here's a place where I found three of the flowers growing together:


Doesn't that kinda take your breath away?

And these, buttercups and purple stars together:


Hey - is that... is that a shadow? Who is that?

Uh, can I eat these flowers?

My Jackie-boy!

After spending time in the yard, with the tiny flowers, little miracles... I was thinking. From my vantage point on the deck, the yard just looks like: grass. Green grass, with toys and sticks across it. Closer to it, you see some color mixed in with the green. Still closer, and you see that the color is... flowers. Very, very close, and you see the perfection of the flowers, the impossible detail, the heartbreaking (heartopening) beauty.

Maybe life is like that too. From my vantage point, it looks painful and expensive and scary right now. Maybe I can look a little closer. Maybe there's some color, and some tiny miracles.

If I'm not looking, I might not even see them.


Oh, before I forget: Please visualize this cat


Feo, fully healthy and vibrant. He's having a pee-blockage problem, so if you can visualize free, unobstructed flow, we'd appreciate it.

Gassho ~