simplicity in a busy season

There are days, weeks, even months and years in life, where I think that it may feel next to impossible to achieve what we might think of as "simple living". Seasons when life is one hectic blur of busyness and responsibility.

For me, a really challenging example of a season like that was last summer, while my husband was going through chemotherapy, and I was caring for him, a 2 year old and a newborn. Life felt anything but simple most days.

Yet, there was a sort of simplicity when I stop to really consider it. We pared down our activities and responsibilities to next to nothing. Our social life was much more minimal. We went to church and came back home, with no extra involvement. Our main priorities were to get through chemo and get better (him), and be with my husband, take care of my children and their basic needs, put adequate food on the table, and keep the house in some semblance of order (me). That was it. In all actuality, there was much about it that was simple.

In the midst of it, we found great delight in small pleasures. In savoring each new development, smile and coo from our new baby boy. In relishing extra time spent just snuggling with our little girl. In really appreciating a lovely summer day when we could sit outside, or the rare occasions when Ry felt well enough for us to be a bit more social and have a really fun evening with friends. In a road trip we made to a wedding, that was leisurely and full of beautiful conversation. Though much of the summer was a blur to me, I well remember those moments.