{"id":4102,"date":"2013-02-20T17:34:17","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T00:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/?p=4102"},"modified":"2022-03-25T21:46:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-26T04:46:16","slug":"letting-the-moss-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2013\/02\/20\/letting-the-moss-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"Letting the moss grow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The other day I had a rare moment of solitude after I dropped my husband off at the office, and drove back home All By Myself<\/em>. I took the long way, the scenic route along the length of Lake Washington. As I drove, with the water and sun to my left, and mansions to my right, I pondered the week ahead and how I would spend the luxury of down time that would accompany the recovery from my upcoming surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would get caught up on my correspondence, do my taxes, get a number of blog posts prepared in advance, organize our finances, get started writing a series I’ve been plotting, edit a few thousand photographs, work my way through a stack of books I’ve been longing to read…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My head was racing as I pondered all the projects I’d finally have a chance to tackle, when I saw a big fat bald eagle sitting on a tree branch along the side of the road. I had to drive quite a ways ahead to find a place to park the car, then grabbed my camera and walked back to his tree.  He sat there waiting, and watching me walk between the lake and the road. He waited and watched till I pulled my camera up to my face, then took off before my first click. Three clicks of the camera and he was gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"eagle\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But the stop was good for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It slowed me down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I meandered back to the car. I stopped to watch birds play. I kicked a rock around for a while. I sat down and studied moss growing out the side of a stone wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Moss\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Letting<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Letting<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It’s been three weeks since that drive, and nearly 3 weeks since my surgery.  In that time, I have not done one of the things on my list.  I rested. I watched a lot of movies.  I colored in coloring books with my daughter. I snuggled.  I let more than 2000 additional emails accumulate in my inbox.  But, it’s all ok.  I needed a rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe, one of these days, I will get caught up on my correspondence, but it wont be today.  Today, I’m going to snuggle on the couch with my little girl and watch Tinkerbell, and maybe we’ll sing some songs, and make up a few stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My to do list can wait another day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

a lesson in mindfulness, and enjoying right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7367,"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_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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}},"categories":[695,138],"tags":[688,671,1290,348,599,1310,680,600,598],"class_list":["post-4102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer-2","category-parenting-living-well","tag-health-2","tag-life-lessons-2","tag-moms-with-cancer","tag-parenting-with-cancer","tag-productivity","tag-rest","tag-sanity-2","tag-self-care","tag-to-do-list","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\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?fit=640%2C425","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?resize=150%2C150",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?fit=640%2C425",640,425,false]},"categories_names":{"695":{"name":"Cancer","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/cancer-2\/"},"138":{"name":"Parenting & Family","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/parenting-living-well\/"}},"tags_names":{"688":{"name":"health","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/health-2\/"},"671":{"name":"life lessons","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/life-lessons-2\/"},"1290":{"name":"moms with cancer","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/moms-with-cancer\/"},"348":{"name":"parenting with cancer","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/parenting-with-cancer\/"},"599":{"name":"productivity","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/productivity\/"},"1310":{"name":"rest","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/rest\/"},"680":{"name":"sanity","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/sanity-2\/"},"600":{"name":"self-care","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/self-care\/"},"598":{"name":"to do list","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/tag\/to-do-list\/"}},"comments_number":0,"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?resize=150%2C150",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?resize=300%2C300",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?resize=305%2C207",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?resize=400%2C425",400,425,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?resize=600%2C425",600,425,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?resize=640%2C425",640,425,true],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?resize=130%2C95",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/moss-02.png?fit=640%2C425",640,425,false]},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1fDeG-14a","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12681,"url":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2026\/03\/10\/16-year-cancerversary-and-finding-my-way-back-to-hope\/","url_meta":{"origin":4102,"position":0},"title":"16 Year Cancerversary, and finding my way back to hope","author":"Judy Schwartz Haley","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"16 years ago, today, I got that call. 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