{"id":299,"date":"2008-08-22T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-22T07:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/?p=299"},"modified":"2014-09-11T21:09:01","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T04:09:01","slug":"serenity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2008\/08\/22\/serenity\/","title":{"rendered":"Serenity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several months before my Dad passed away, my parents moved from their giant 6 bedroom house with no view to a tiny 2 bedroom apartment with this view.<\/p>\n

\"view\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last August we had a family reunion in this little apartment with Mom, Dad, 5 siblings, 2 spouses and a herd of grandkids. We repeated the reunion in October for Dad’s funeral. Both occasions I marveled at this view.<\/p>\n

At times I was frustrated that the old giant house was sitting empty waiting for a buyer while we were packed like sardines in this tiny apartment. But mostly I was thankful. I was so thankful that my parents were able to find this little apartment close to the hospital and Dad’s work. I was thankful that my parents no longer had to worry about taking care of the old house and that they were not knocking around alone in that big empty space. I was thankful my brothers and I get along well enough we were able to enjoy hanging out in the apartment together. Mostly I was thankful that we even had the opportunity to spend this time together.<\/p>\n

Looking at that view reminds me of a time in my life where I was acutely aware of enjoying this moment right now. Not looking forward to something in the future, not happily remembering something from the past. Now.<\/p>\n

Savor every moment.<\/p>\n

\"coffeejitters<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several months before my Dad passed away, my parents moved from their giant 6 bedroom house with no view to a tiny 2 bedroom apartment with this view. Last August we had a family reunion in this little apartment with Mom, Dad, 5 siblings, 2 spouses and a herd of grandkids. We repeated the reunion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[768,761,694],"tags":[39,28,351,246,81],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure-living-well","category-family-living-well","category-living-well","tag-alaska","tag-extended-family","tag-life-is-what-happens-when-youre-making-other-plans","tag-photography","tag-wasilla","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?fit=640%2C480","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?resize=150%2C150",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?fit=640%2C480",640,480,false]},"categories_names":{"768":{"name":"Adventure","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/life-skills\/adventure-living-well\/"},"761":{"name":"Family","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/living-well\/family-living-well\/"},"694":{"name":"Living Well","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/living-well\/"}},"tags_names":{"39":{"name":"Alaska","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/alaska\/"},"28":{"name":"Extended Family","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/extended-family\/"},"351":{"name":"life is what happens when you're making other plans","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/life-is-what-happens-when-youre-making-other-plans\/"},"246":{"name":"photography","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/photography\/"},"81":{"name":"Wasilla","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/wasilla\/"}},"comments_number":0,"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?resize=150%2C150",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?resize=300%2C300",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?resize=305%2C207",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?resize=400%2C480",400,480,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?resize=600%2C480",600,480,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?resize=640%2C480",640,480,true],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?resize=130%2C95",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/view.png?fit=640%2C480",640,480,false]},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s1fDeG-serenity","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":172,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2008\/04\/12\/sunset\/","url_meta":{"origin":299,"position":0},"title":"Sunset","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Sunset, originally uploaded by coffeejitters. The view from Mom's new apartment: sunset over Puget Sound with the Kingston Ferry.\u00a9 Copyright Judy Haley 2008. All rights reserved.","rel":"","context":"In "Daily Life"","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/living-well\/daily-life-living-well\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":234,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2008\/06\/15\/5-things-i-learned-from-my-dad\/","url_meta":{"origin":299,"position":1},"title":"5 Things I Learned From My Dad","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"My father passed away in October, so today, I'm facing my first fatherless Father's Day.\u00a0I had a hard time figuring out what to write; there is so much that I'm just not quite ready to talk about yet. 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