Stop

I had to make a decision between two blips tonight. The beautiful macro and the funky artsy edgy look. Both photos where taken within minutes of one another. Beautiful hot pink flowers were peeking out from behind a varied green hedge and above them, rising high into the sky, was this worn out and completely used and abused stop sign. What to do, go for the pretty and stay on the safe side or blip something far from pretty but if it could talk, just think of the fascinating stories that it would be able to tell. So okay......stop, hold up.....I went for the funky artsy edgy blip tonight.

Even though this stop sign has a rough and tough exterior, it still has an important role in our world. Many pass on by without a second glance.......as I have done a hundred times. Today however, I stopped and saw the beauty. The beauty of the "skate" sticker that reminded me of my son because that is his new favorite obsession. The beauty of the old rugged tree behind it. The beauty of the bright white letters that have faded due to years and years of enduring the weather. The beauty of what it is telling us all to do. Stop. Stop and take a minute. Take a minute to observe. Stop and catch your breath. See the beauty in all things before casting a quick judgement. Just stop and don't let life pass you by......

A quick little story that I need to tell this evening. A story that I want to tell because I don't want to forget it 20 years from now. After taking this picture, my kids and I went to the grocery store to pick up a couple of things. As we were leaving the store, my kids were hanging all over the cart giggling and laughing. We were moving incredibly slow as I didn't want them to slip off and hurt themselves. I had noticed a guy walking behind us with a huge bag of dog food on his shoulder. He was probably around my age with a pretty tough looking exterior. I kept trying to move us on over to the side so we wouldn't hold him up, but he didn't seem to mind. All of a sudden my son looked over at my daughter and in the sweetest little four year old voice said, "Hey, guess what?!". My two year old daughter responded in a sassy little shout, "WHAAAAT!!!". And my son said, "I love you". The big huge gruff guy suddenly had a huge smile on his face as he had heard this cute little exchange. He looked right at me and said, "That just made my day!".

And I will tell you this, it made my day too. And it also made my day because someone else who could have been in the biggest hurry ever to get out of that store, actually stopped to appreciate a sweet little moment. And he stopped to take the time to say........"That just made my day".

And this is why I went with my "stop" blip! In my analytical brain right now, it seems fitting. Stop to observe. Stop to capture a moment. Stop to take the time in telling someone what you truly feel. Life is fast and it moves at a rapid pace. If we would all just stop once in a while, just imagine all of the little moments that we would catch. Moments that otherwise would have passed us by...........

With that said, nighty night cha'll..........off to get my beauty sleep!