Inside Looking Out

Yesterday was my baby's birthday (she's 28, holy cow!). Happy Birthday Nikki! Two years ago we moved back to Chicago after a five year break in Southern California. We came back for one reason and one reason only: Our daughters and grandbaby (now we have two!). We knew that these years are essential to the relationships we will have with the new babies born into our family, but I also knew that I'd missed five years of relationship with my daughters. We've been back for two years now. This is our view looking out the back window of our house. There is a beautiful pond out there that is shared with the other homes around it. It is nice to look at year round, but honestly when it's frozen over for months on end, it's not that interesting. It's still only mid-February but I really want to see it thaw soon. I'm not patient. I'm sure I will be blipping this view repeatedly in the next few months, so I thought I'd better capture it while it's still partially frozen.

We had an amazing view in our home in California. We could see it from our bed - city lights crossing over a valley with mountains as a back drop. Our view here is very different. There are no mountains in Illinois, but we have water to look at. A couple nights ago when I climbed into bed I saw the most incredible moon. I could see it while I rested my head on my pillow. It was nearly full and had cross-like lights glowing from it. I kept blinking thinking it was just my eyes, but no, it was glowing in rays of light. I sketched a picture of it because I didn't want to forget. I thought about the difference in my view from this bedroom compared to my last bedroom, and this one wins the prize.

When I saw this picture I realized my camera flash reflection has the same rays of light that the moon did. I knew then it was a keeper.