How We Spend Our Days Is, Of Course, How We Spend Our Lives.

This holiday season marks the first that I have not been a student, able to enjoy a relaxing month-long break in my hometown of Greensburg. Though I am in Greensburg, I am at the end of my rope busy. I have a full-time job and countless other obligations after work is done, just like everyone else. I'm not used to this fast-pace but I have enjoyed the excitement and chaos. Until this week, when I was reminded that I need pump the breaks.

I surprised myself at some of the beautiful moments I captured this week when I allowed myself to slow down and at times, come to a complete stop. 

 

Sophie sits on the couch all day long. She has no idea how perfect her placement was, wearing a prism created by a piece of crystal in our kitchen window.

I realize this could be taking my love of coffee to an unhealthy level...but seeing as how I depend on it at least twice a day, what would I do if I woke up and it were gone? THANK YOU, COFFEE. Never quit.

Enjoy the view from the backseat. It's not so bad.

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On one of the many work-related trips I have made to Bowling Green in the past few weeks, I finally took the time to make a few stops and appreciate the things I always wonder at from inside my car, but never get close to. 

There are three places along the windy backroads leading to Horse Cave and eventually, I-65 South.

There are chimneys. No houses...just chimneys. Why? I wonder. I don't know...but they fascinate me. Instead of whizzing past them, imagining their history, I stopped and looked for myself. I spun tires getting out of a serious mud-pit and had to wish for the best turning out of a gravel road onto the curvy main road....but it was worth it to feed my curiosity.

Has anyone else ever thought these chimneys were the most mysterious things ever?!

Finally, I caught a sunset. In the Summer, I see them almost every night when I take a walk after dinner. Sadly, this time of year, I realized, the sunsets are still as beautiful, but I'm not willing to stand out in the cold to appreciate them.

So, I did.

On this last Friday before Christmas, hug and kiss every single person you love and tell them how much they mean to you. If you're brave and you have 4-wheel drive, take a drive out to Donansburg and beyond for a visit with the chimneys. And watch a few sunsets with someone special. You never know how many of these moments you have left.

"Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep, really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might...." -Ernest Hemingway