savor

The first thing I fell in love with, in my house, was my bedroom-to-be.  Right off the front door, it is a spacious room with five tall, white windows.  Even in January, light poured in.  I couldn't believe that I was going to start every day in that room.  Steve painted the walls blue, which made the white windows pop even more.  I bought some orange pillows and accents and pulled my reading chair next to the window to stare up into green leaves in the summer and watch snow flakes fall in the winter.  It's been eleven years and I am still delighted with our big, cheerful, calming, inviting room.

Nate Burkus once said to describe your favorite room in your house.  And that the four words you choose to describe your favorite room are how you would also describe your best self.  Which makes me quickly regret calling my bedroom big....

So maybe my bathroom is my favorite room.  It's best feature, at this moment, is that it is small, compact, streamlined. :)  And also that it is cozy, peaceful and warm.

So, so warm.  With weather in the teens and below, we have been reminded of one drawback of floor-to-ceiling windows.  They let cold air come swooshing in.  Our room is always the coldest room in the house.  Which is fine around midnight, when only my nose peeks out from under a toasty comforter piled with blankets.  But going to bed, and much worse, getting up, is often an olympic act of will.

I am saved by a small, space heater that makes the bathroom a heated refuge.  It sends warm air into the chilly bedroom.  It makes December and January, February and March survivable with its pleasant hum and sunny radiance.

Then last week, when temperatures plummeted, my heater died without warning.  Overworked and taken for granted, it gave up the ghost.  I had three very challenging mornings - when I felt the pain blizzard survivors have known, and said prayers for anyone that ever had to run outside to an outhouse.  I crawled out of hot baths at night only to freeze again before I could get to bed.

By the time I made it to Target, I was a woman on a singular mission.  There in the heater section I found the perfect small room heater for only sixteen dollars.  I cradled it in my arms and promised to appreciate it every single day.  I can hear it's comforting humming right now as I type.

I read this interesting quote in a magazine recently. 
Sandra Bullock knows how ephemeral happiness can be.  "When people are like, "life is so good,'" she says, "I go, 'no, life is a series of disastrous moments, painful moments, unexpected moments, and things that will break your heart.  And in between those moments, that's when you savor, savor, savor.'"

I actually believe that life is so good.  I think choosing to savor all the gifts and blessings, big and small, make it even better.  And I think savoring is part of what fortifies us to handle all those other moments.  Today, again I say thank you for so much- especially a cozy heater and beautiful windows.  

*I had to look it up.  Ephemeral - lasting for a very short time, fleeting, passing, brief.