The sparkle of the fireflies...

A couple of weekends ago, I stepped out of my comfort zone and got "back to nature". Justin and I joined dear friends and went camping. We headed north up around Eureka Springs, AR and found this primitive camping ground. It was wonderfully run by this super sweet family.

I originally had been not necessarily lamenting about going camping, being that I am more of a "glamper", but perhaps a little tentative would be a better phrasing option. I was getting angsty about it and actually wound myself up a little too much over it...

I wracked my brain to try and remember when the last time was that I had actually tented out. I could not remember and it seemed that it was probably back in my teens when I was still in Boy Scouting.
A long time ago none-the-less.

Yet looking back over the short weekend time we spent together...
So many beautiful moments...
Not putting the cover on the top of the tent and the top of the tent is mesh...you can see where this is going...sleeping under the stars...immense and breath-taking. The moon was SO FULL and bright!!

Sitting around the campfire, the smell of smoke and warmth. The perfect Smore's concoction. Not burnt, just the right color of crisp brown.

The best part of the evening was stepping away from the campfire and walking into the darkness. All of a sudden the air became sparkly. FIRE FLIES EVERYWHERE!! And as we opened our focus to take in the world around us, they were literally everywhere. The trees, the air, the world was glizty and glittery. So glamorous and it was like the area was putting on a fabulous performance just for us...with no overture...just silence...maybe the occasional frog croak...nature's overture and grand gesture to each of us.

The silence...
A little jarring at first...but once you give in to the moment and relax...it was actually so wonderful...I was not prepared for it and that is always for the best. I am so thankful for the persistence of my husband to keep me on the right path towards these moments.

And I left my cell phone at HOME. HUGE for me...
And I LOVED IT!!!

We went kayaking. canoeing the next day and it was just nice floating down the river...filled with rock crevasses and GREEN foliage. The rush of thee water underneath my kayak. The rhythm of the paddling. The water was so crystal clear and could see the rocks at the bottom and fish below you swimming...We spent time on a rock beach and took in the sun and drank beers and ate sandwiches, fresh fruit, and dill pickle potato chips. It as awesome.

Here is what I learned from the experience:
You have to allow for the quiet moments. You HAVE TO! I am horrible at this...allowing myself to be quiet. Allowing myself to quiet my mind and soften the hard edges of my focus, if at all. I am so wound up and on the go all of the time. My mind is always on the go, mentally trying to figure out the next step, breaking down my experiences and attempting to try and find meaning in what is being said at all times. It is exhausting at times...It makes those quiet moments so jarring and odd for me.
Yet in my life I have to learn that it is in the quiet moments that I truly will begin to hear what I need to hear.
Making the time to allow for quiet and solitude to see the sparkle of the fire flies!!!
Getting out of the race sometimes to just press pause and enter into the silence and reconnect with my inner hum of my heart and soul.

Because if I would allow the rat race in my head to get the best of me and let the angst talk me away from the life experiences, I would have missed out on this glorious adventure and all the sights.

And I constantly say that I need to get back to this...
Constantly remind myself the take a break to regroup.
And this is difficult for me.
I am thankful for summer reminders.
If only I could remember this when the going gets going.

Make today a great day, my fellow sojourners.
You got this!