shhhh…….LISTEN

yesterday a very wise man spoke about simple pleasures…

he said go outside and LISTEN to simple sounds.

have you ever wondered the LOSS in your life if they weren’t there?

i hadn’t but today i decided on some sounds i LOVE…

and they make me feel alive and good.

1.  the breeze in the cherry blossom tree in the garden – YES in Fermanagh it is only a week or two until they are washed down, but for that few weeks…i love it.
2. my two youngest sons …they come in from playing outside on the trampoline, and they almost FALL through the door laughing. We faces all flushed and in stitches laughing. That sound of happiness!
3. has to be the dream i had of age…the dream that it was manageable to live at the sea. Not necessarily abroad- not really climate related , but the waves. The crashing, thundering, power…the endlessness…always in dark times gave me a moment of perspective. the sheer Life force of the ocean. 
4. mam’s voice..when she gets a lovely lucid moment. Mam has advanced alzheimers…so when she out of the blue chats me on the phone, and maybe says “Helen, you are a good girl” – i treasure it.
5. Music. What a different place my life would be. Music makes me strong, cry, connect with me at  deeper level…and is therapeutic in so many ways. To not hear the music i love would be agony.
6. my daughter just saying “i love you too mum” on a time when i know it.
7. the gaelic roar – in a mtch where my eldest son is playing – as i KNOW what it means to him. And i take such pleasure from that. 
8. my husband snoring…strangely comforting. Is it that i don’t assume the grow old together picture that i once planned for. I will never make that assumption together. But there is a safe feeling in that knowledge that he is beside me…
9. crickets…grasshoppers…whatever they are. That means ew are on holidays – all together, and i don’t think i can tell anyone what that means….that family experience. Even when the grumpy teens are in THAT mood…it passes, and i am so proud of my family….always was and always will be .
10. the sound of something i have created, produced or directed. That has ME in it. A large investment of me…will NEVER be enough to get by, will be 100% commitment from me..and never do i take my musical talent casually…i put ALL into each thing….thanks for that!