Okay so at this point we all know how much I love and adore country music. Zac Brown Band has been known to take my life and put it into song form, more than once. Only natural that I would open todays post with a ZBB quote from one of my favorites.
"It's funny how it's the little things in life, that mean the most." - Chicken Fried
Well friends, there are three things that absolutely haven't left my mind this week. Two of which, very few people know about. That is until I hit the blue publish button to my right and all of blog land and beyond has access to my secrets. No pressure or anything.
The above is one of the only ones I could find to accurately depict where I am going with this. I'm going to have throw things back a few years to properly explain where I'm coming from. Before I dive into an explanation, do you see the rays or beams of light poking out from behind the clouds? Those are the best little reminders of love ever.
The summer before I went into eighth grade my Papa was diagnosed with cancer. What started as lung cancer, presumably from smoking cigarettes back in the day when it was cool (insert sick face-mask emoji here,) spread to his bones and was throughout his body before we were even aware it existed. The reason for catching it? A pain in his shoulder we all chalked up as a result of the 100 daily pushups he had still been doing. That's right folks- 100 pushups everyday since World War II. God love that man. It was almost two months to the day after diagnosis that we lost one of the most influential men in my life. In those two months we hugged a little tighter, said "I love you" a little more and appreciated even the most mundane moments. For me to tell you my Papa was an extraordinary man would be an understatement.
At some point in those two months my cousin, Katherine, mentioned she loved the way the sun shone through the clouds. To this, my Papa responded "I'll shine down for you. That's how you will all know I'm still here." Now, nothing in the world makes me feel as good as seeing a beam of light shine through the clouds. Not even a brand new Louis Vuitton bag. Although, if someone were to offer me one I wouldn't say no.
Playing off the sun beams; my second little thing is a spot I go to look for them. During the summer primarily, there is a small park in my hometown where I could sit for hours just talking to myself. I'm not sure why but I seem to do my best thinking there. The best part? There's always rays of sun to talk to! None of my friends know when I'm there or even that I go to make me feel better. It's all mine. Muahaha, just kidding. It only gets kind of awkward when people come to walk their dogs and I'm the weird girl sitting alone. I mean, whatever. Haven't ya'll ever seen a girl sitting in the sun before?
The third and final small thing of the week is having my best friend home for spring break. Let's meet her.
That's my bestie, Jen. She goes to school all the way in Florida and more often than not it makes me miserable. Jen makes me feel better when I'm irrationally upset about a coffee Dunkin Donuts screwed up. She makes me laugh when she sends me love letters via text at 2am, typically after a few snapchats of her inhaling wine. Oh! She also loves wine as much as me. She tells me it's totally fine to not wear a bra to class and even better to go tanning regularly. I mean it IS a fact that everyone looks better tan. No, but on a serious note, I can and do tell her everything about me and she still loves me. That is really impressive, my friends.
The point of this little blog post today is to share that in my experience, the things that warm your heart the most are the things that are both free and irreplaceable. The little things.
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"It's funny how it's the little things in life, that mean the most." - Chicken Fried
Well friends, there are three things that absolutely haven't left my mind this week. Two of which, very few people know about. That is until I hit the blue publish button to my right and all of blog land and beyond has access to my secrets. No pressure or anything.
The above is one of the only ones I could find to accurately depict where I am going with this. I'm going to have throw things back a few years to properly explain where I'm coming from. Before I dive into an explanation, do you see the rays or beams of light poking out from behind the clouds? Those are the best little reminders of love ever.
The summer before I went into eighth grade my Papa was diagnosed with cancer. What started as lung cancer, presumably from smoking cigarettes back in the day when it was cool (insert sick face-mask emoji here,) spread to his bones and was throughout his body before we were even aware it existed. The reason for catching it? A pain in his shoulder we all chalked up as a result of the 100 daily pushups he had still been doing. That's right folks- 100 pushups everyday since World War II. God love that man. It was almost two months to the day after diagnosis that we lost one of the most influential men in my life. In those two months we hugged a little tighter, said "I love you" a little more and appreciated even the most mundane moments. For me to tell you my Papa was an extraordinary man would be an understatement.
At some point in those two months my cousin, Katherine, mentioned she loved the way the sun shone through the clouds. To this, my Papa responded "I'll shine down for you. That's how you will all know I'm still here." Now, nothing in the world makes me feel as good as seeing a beam of light shine through the clouds. Not even a brand new Louis Vuitton bag. Although, if someone were to offer me one I wouldn't say no.
Playing off the sun beams; my second little thing is a spot I go to look for them. During the summer primarily, there is a small park in my hometown where I could sit for hours just talking to myself. I'm not sure why but I seem to do my best thinking there. The best part? There's always rays of sun to talk to! None of my friends know when I'm there or even that I go to make me feel better. It's all mine. Muahaha, just kidding. It only gets kind of awkward when people come to walk their dogs and I'm the weird girl sitting alone. I mean, whatever. Haven't ya'll ever seen a girl sitting in the sun before?
The third and final small thing of the week is having my best friend home for spring break. Let's meet her.
That's my bestie, Jen. She goes to school all the way in Florida and more often than not it makes me miserable. Jen makes me feel better when I'm irrationally upset about a coffee Dunkin Donuts screwed up. She makes me laugh when she sends me love letters via text at 2am, typically after a few snapchats of her inhaling wine. Oh! She also loves wine as much as me. She tells me it's totally fine to not wear a bra to class and even better to go tanning regularly. I mean it IS a fact that everyone looks better tan. No, but on a serious note, I can and do tell her everything about me and she still loves me. That is really impressive, my friends.
The point of this little blog post today is to share that in my experience, the things that warm your heart the most are the things that are both free and irreplaceable. The little things.
XOXO
