Calm

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Kids in school, two working parents, holiday bake sales and business trips.  All these things fill our life with meaning, but sometimes I just need life to slow down.   Calm, without the storm.

Calm is staying home and making pizza on Friday night.

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Calm is lying on your back and looking up at a ceiling colored with Italian frescoes.

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Calm is sitting in a cafe and writing with your little boy.

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Calm is watching a movie with the cat.

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Calm is a wall covered in ivy.

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Or trees changing color outside the living room window.

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Calm is the perfect soft boiled egg.

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Calm is burying Eli in leaves.

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Or sitting for a minute by yourself.

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Calm is knowing that people love you enough to help you carry your burden.

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The best calm is discovering there are more people in the world who love you than you realized.  You were never alone, but you’re even less alone now.

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Maybe calm is feeling the life in those narrow seconds between past and future, when things aren’t over and haven’t yet started.  There is a lot going on in those seconds.

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And very little room for worry.   As far as we know, the storm isn’t here yet and may still be a long way off.

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There is just an unexpected calm, with family and UNO and a glass of gluhwein.

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And heated floor tiles in the bathroom.

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