A little bit of appreciation...

Every time I look out my kitchen window and wish I was on a beach,

I'm going to look at this picture.

Or maybe this picture...

Last month when I was in Florida walking the pups, I met an elderly woman who told me she rarely left Florida. Other than an occasional trip to Atlanta, she spent almost all of her eighty-plus years in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

When I told her I lived in Chicago, she was as giddy as a teenager.

She wanted to hear all about it, and I was speechless

{a rare occurrence for me}.

It wasn't the Chicago landmarks that made her so excited...although she did mention the beauty of 
"those amazing buildings".
{I can't tell you how many times I've been downtown and never looked up}.

She was enamored by those "wonderful snowstorms" and "the lake that's as big as an ocean"

I was surprised by her descriptions of my home town.

She viewed Chicago as an exotic, foreign land, much the same way that 
I view other places. 

She has no idea how the wind in January chills your bones, or how dark and dreary the month of February can be. 

I know I don't think of hurricanes or stifling humidity when I'm in Florida.

The grass (and palm trees) are always greener on the other side. 

It's no secret that we take things for granted, everyday life has a way of ripping off those rose-colored glasses. 
When I venture downtown I rarely look around me. 
I'm much too busy trying to plow through the crowds, and avoid an encounter with a taxi.

::sigh::

So I'm going to try by best to show some appreciation for the beauty that 

I dwell in everyday. 
This month I'm going to practice gratefulness for my own backyard, as well as the city, the freezing winds, and the holiday chaos.


I'm going to do my best to open my eyes and take a look around.

I don't think it'll be too hard.

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it."

                                                                            ~George Moore